Australians make three debit card payments for every credit card payment

Australians overwhelmingly choose debit rather than credit when paying by card, but international data show this pattern is far from universal.

The latest Bank for International Settlements Red Book statistics show Australians made 432 debit-card payments per person in 2024, compared with 138 credit-card payments.

That works out at around 3.1 debit transactions for every credit transaction.

In raw numbers, Australians made approximately 11.8 billion debit-card payments during the year, compared with 3.8 billion credit-card payments.

Debit transactions alone accounted for 56.3 per cent of all Australian cashless payments, while credit-card transactions accounted for 18.0 per cent.

But Australia's preference for debit is actually moderate compared with several European economies.

British consumers made more than six debit payments for every credit payment. The ratio was 5.8 in Germany, 5.5 in Sweden and 4.0 in France.

The United States sits much closer to the middle, recording 294 debit payments and 182 credit payments per person — a ratio of only 1.6 to one.

More strikingly, the pattern reverses in some economies. Canadians made 224 credit-card payments per person compared with 194 debit payments. In Korea, credit was even more dominant: 366 credit transactions per person compared with 204 debit transactions.

These differences demonstrate why simply measuring the growth of "card payments" can conceal important structural differences between payments systems.

Australia is an exceptionally card-intensive economy, but most Australian card transactions draw directly on customers' funds rather than using a credit function.

That distinction matters when considering the economics of the payments system. Debit and credit have different pricing structures, incentives and competitive dynamics.

For Australian payments policy, the BIS figures provide a useful starting point: the typical Australian card payment is now very clearly a debit payment.

Source: Bank for International Settlements, CPMI Red Book statistics, 2024.