08 apr. Card Terminal and Transaction Penetration 2011-2013 Statistics for the Baltics

Private debit cards used for card payments in POS terminals the most in Estonia, for cash out the most in Lithuania

Based on the 2011-2013 statistics, the cardholders use their debit cards in Estonia 48% for card payments and 52% for cash withdrawal from ATM-s.  Latvian numbers were 36% for card payment and 64% for cash withdrawal.  The lowest card payment was in Lithuania where only 21% were card payments and 79% cash withdrawals.

The amount of card acceptance devices installed is equal in Estonia and Lithuania having approximately 30 thousand devices. Latvia has 24700 devices in use. The number of the POS terminals 21150 per inhabitant Estonia has almost double of the Latvian 12021 and Lithuanian 8600 devices per inhabitant.

There is also a drastic difference of the transactions amount per terminal Estonia 118, Latvia 59 and Lithuania 38. The Estonian transaction amount per terminal is in the same range as Swedish (94) but less than Finnish (167). Latvian indications are on the same level as the European average (59) and Lithuania lacks 55%. The data shows the potential for card payment growth in the Baltics especially in Lithuania and Latvia, but there is also a lot of room for development in Estonia.