The use of cash has been declining rapidly in Sweden for several years, as you can see in Figure 5. However, the Riksbank’s latest survey on payment habits shows a slight increase in the use of cash – 10 per cent said they paid cash for their last in-store purchase in 2023, compared to 8 per cent in 2022. However, as described in Section Payment habits in Sweden, other data suggest that the use of cash instead continues to decline. One possible explanation for the increase is that in 2023 private persons have used cash buffers withdrawn in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Percentage of people who paid cash for their last in-store purchase.