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The 10 Big Economies That Hold the Most Cash |
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The BIS published its 2024 payment statistics in April. Cash withdrawals are falling almost everywhere. The stock of banknotes is not. Japan still keeps 21.2% of its economy in paper and coin. Sweden keeps 0.9%. |
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Source: BIS Red Book statistics (CPMI), 2024 data, commentary 27 April 2026. Banknotes and coins in circulation, % of GDP; 19 reporting economies. |
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| What's Surprising |
Japan runs one of the most wired payment systems on Earth and holds 21.2% of its economy in banknotes and coins. That is $820 billion of paper, carried by 124 million people.
Hong Kong is second at 19.4%, and first in the world per person — $10,552 of cash each. Singapore is sixth. Asia’s two most digital financial centres are also its two biggest cash hoarders.
The United States has more cash in circulation than anyone, $2.4 trillion, and sits eighth. Americans hold $6,940 each, more than the Japanese do. Japan ranks higher because its economy is smaller per head, not because its wallets are fuller.
| What's Not Surprising |
The direction is one–way. Sixteen of the nineteen economies reporting 2024 data hold less cash relative to GDP than they did in 2020. Switzerland fell 3.9 points. India and Argentina fell 3.1 each.
The bottom of the table holds two different stories. Sweden at 0.9% and the UK at 3.0% went digital. Türkiye at 1.5% and Argentina at 2.8% had inflation, and nobody holds a currency that is losing value.
India is third at 11.3%, down from 14.4% in 2020, and cash is still 59.4% of its narrow money — the highest share here. That is a decade after India cancelled its two largest banknotes overnight.
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$2.4 trillion Banknotes and coins circulating in the United States, more than any other economy. It comes to 7.9% of American GDP. Eighth on this list. |
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$10,552 Cash per person in Hong Kong, the most anywhere. Sweden holds $490 a head. |
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59.4% The share of India’s narrow money that is physical cash, the highest here. Sweden’s share is 1.4%. |
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3 of 19 Economies where cash grew as a share of GDP between 2020 and 2024: China, Korea and Mexico. The other sixteen shrank. |
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3.9 points Switzerland’s drop since 2020, the steepest on the list. The Swiss still carry $9,485 each. |
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Two laws and one release. Australia has required supermarkets and service stations to accept cash for in-person purchases of $500 or less since 1 January. Sweden’s rule for grocers and pharmacies took effect on 1 July. The BIS publishes 2025 figures next year, the first read on whether either of them moved anything. We’ll be watching. |
