New figures from DNB show that the Dutch used their debit or credit cards to pay for €198 billion worth of products and services in 2024. This represents a 15% increase from 2022. Although point-of-sale card payments still far outnumber them, online card payments in particular are on the rise.
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Dutch people made 6.7 billion debit and credit card payments in 2024, totalling €198 billion. In 2022, there were some 5.9 billion card payments worth €172 billion.
Roughly 6.4 billion card payments in 2024 were made with a Dutch card at physical points of sale in the Netherlands or abroad (€175 billion).
At De Nederlandsche Bank, we independently compile statistics on the Dutch financial sector and economy. This article is based on these statistics. More information on our statistics and all dashboards can be found on our Statistics homepage.
In addition, 306 million online card payments worth €24 billion were made in 2024.
While 230 million of these payments were made with a credit card, debit cards became significantly more popular for online payments: this type of payment tripled to reach 76 million transactions annually between 2022 and 2024.
In this news item, we discuss online card payments, for which the official term is “remote card payments”. These are debit and credit card payments that you make online, as well as by phone or email. Such payments include purchases made at online stores, payments for digital services such as streaming subscriptions, and transactions made in apps for which you enter your card details or use a digital wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. However, iDEAL is not included in online card payments. Since 2022, DNB has access to new source data with additional details on this type of payment
The increase in online card payments is partly due to the fact that more and more Dutch people are using their debit or credit cards to pay for digital goods, such as online streaming services and purchases on gaming platforms.
A particular notable feature is the strong growth in cross-border online payments made specifically with a debit card. In this type of payment, the seller's address is outside the Netherlands. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of such payments increased to 26 million, with the value even quintupling to €1.7 billion.
The increased popularity of debit cards for online purchases may be due to the growing use of digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. These services are linked to a debit card and can be used for online payments in apps and webshops, for example.
Another explanation is the introduction of new Visa and Mastercard cards known as “debit payment cards”. These have been rolled out by Dutch banks since 2024 and can be used for online payments at webshops, for example. In addition, consumers can now use specific virtual payment cards for online payments.
The number of cash withdrawals fell slightly from 178 million in 2022 to 176 million in 2024. The total amount drawn was slightly higher though, at €36 billion in 2024 compared to €35 billion two years earlier.
Since 1 January 2022, DNB has been collecting more and better data on payment transactions, as have other European central banks under the wing of the ECB. This is done to better monitor rapid developments in this area. Compared to previous years, more payment service providers are now required to provide data to us. In addition, we have expanded our survey. Comparable figures from other European countries can be found on this page of the ECB website. Furthermore, as the same information has been requested by central banks in Europe since 2022, it is now easier to compare it between countries.
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