BBVA Research | When it comes to digital payments, the system of payments through credit and debit cards usually comes to mind and this dates back to the middle of the last century.
World Bank data indicate that 47.7% of people aged 15 or over had a debit card in 2017, an increase from 2011, when it stood at 30.7%.
In the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, more than 98% of the population had a debit card; in contrast, in South Sudan and Sierra Leone, only 2% had a card of this type.
At the global level, there is a marked gender gap. 52.1% of men had at least one debit card, while among the women this was only 43.4%.
There are countries where more than 50% of the population has a debit card but with marked gender gaps. Examples include Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Brazil, where the proportion of men with debit cards is significantly higher than the proportion of women.
