Banknotes and coins

In 2016, the European Central Bank (ECB) began to analyse the use of cash and other payment instruments in the euro area.

The aim is to shed light on the behaviour of payments and, in particular, to better understand the nature of payments based on a households payments diary. Various studies carried out by the ECB are available below.

Year 2021

• Catch me (if you can): assessing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via euro cash (Occasional Paper No 259 / July 2021. Barbora Tamele, Alejandro Zamora-Pérez, Chiara Litardi, John Howes, Eike Steinmann, Daniel Todt)  (594 KB)
• The paradox of banknotes: understanding the demand for cash beyond transactional use (ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 2 / 2021. Alejandro Zamora-Pérez)  (139 KB)

Year 2019

• Study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE)  (1 MB)

Year 2016

• The use of cash by households in the euro area (SUCH)  (815 KB)