Infographic about payments in Latvia

Online shopping, non-cash payments and the use of payment cards are getting more widespread in Latvia

The population of Latvia is just under 2 million people, yet there were 361 million non-cash payments made in 2015 for a total value of €366 billion. On average, every Latvian national has more than one payment card, and almost two thirds of non-cash transactions are card payments. Number of issued cards increases each year and grew 1.7 % compared with the previous year. The average value of payment made with a payment card is €20. Growing number of point-of-sales terminals and wider online acceptance result in greater preference that Latvians give to payment cards when it comes to everyday shopping.

The most popular non-cash payment method in Latvia is debit cards representing 72% of the total number of payment cards issued.

Latvia ranks among the world’s top leaders in terms of Internet speed and coverage. Almost 80% of households have Internet connection, every third resident is shopping online. Furthermore, almost 47% of population use smartphones and almost all mobile phone users have access to mobile Internet with the coverage reaching 99% of the Latvian territory.

The increasing number of payment cards, Internet availability, growing popularity of smartphones and mobile Internet usage make online shopping easy and accessible. 38% of population already shop online.