French people still value cash, despite using it less and increasingly turning to cards and mobile payments

Bulletin No. 256, article 1. In December 2024, the European Central Bank published its fourth study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area, based on surveys carried out between September 2023 and June 2024. In a payment landscape conducive to innovation and digitisation, cash is used less and less for payments. The rate of the decline in France over the 2016-24 period is broadly similar to that of the euro area. The number of card payments at local points of sale exceeded cash payments for the first time in France in 2024. …