In the second quarter of 2018, an average Estonian aged 15 or over made 24 card payments a month, 22 of which were made in Estonia and two abroad. Finland accounted for a quarter of all card payments made abroad with Latvia coming second in this statistics. On average, every second Estonian resident made one card payment in Finland per month and every fifth resident did so in Latvia. All in all, Estonians made card purchases in 185 countries.

Latvian figures are particularly noteworthy in the card payment statistics –  compared to three years ago, the number of card payments made by Estonians in Latvia has increased nearly threefold and card spending has leapt by over four times.

While the average card purchase made in Estonia was 15.5 euros, the average value of card transactions abroad amounted to 25.6 euros. Latvia stands out again with an average purchase value of 30 euros, compared to 19 euros in Finland, 21 euros in Russia, 18 euros in Sweden and 12 euros in the Netherlands.

An average consumer spent 396 euros on card purchases per month, of which 348 euros was spent in Estonia and 48 euros abroad. Most of the card payments were made at points of sale. An average Estonian used a bank card for one online purchase a month.

Payment orders were used on average for just over seven transactions a month. Bank transfers via Internet banking were used 3.5 times a month, standing orders for e-invoices and bank link payments 1.5 times each. Other modes of payment (standing orders, payment orders on paper) were used less frequently. In most cases, the payee’s account was also in Estonia, transfers to clients of foreign credit institutions accounted for less than one per cent of all payment orders.

Further information:
Eva Vahur
Public Relations Office
Tel 668 0965, 533 00619
E-mail: [email protected]
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