Every year since 2018, Sifo has asked Swedes if they want to keep cash or if they want a completely cashless society.
In May 2022, 77 percent of Västerbottenians answered that they wanted to keep the cash. Four years earlier, the corresponding figure was 72 percent.
– There are many elderly people who want to shop with cash, says pharmacy worker Lena Westermark.
Looking at the entire country, it is 81 percent who want to continue with cash.
– At larger events there is often a mess with the electronics and then it becomes difficult to pay for yourself if you don’t have cash, I usually always have some cash on me, says Emil Mikaelsson.
Cash as emergency preparedness
According to Loomis, who is Sweden’s only distributor of cash, the demand for cash in Sweden doubled overnight when Russia invaded Ukraine. The authority for social security and emergency preparedness (MSB) recommends that everyone has 2,000 kroner in cash at home for crisis situations.
– Over the past five years, we have seen a clear trend in that more and more people want to keep their cash. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many Swedes have also gained an increased insight into how important cash handling is for Sweden’s crisis preparedness, says Johan Nilsson, customer and marketing manager at Bankomat AB who commissioned the survey.