Digital wallets are becoming a popular choice in the UK and around the world, with many of us choosing to pay from our bank accounts using Apple Pay or Google Pay rather than a debit card. We look at digital wallet usage in the UK and globally, as well as the market size compared to other payment methods.
Digital wallet usage statistics: Highlights
Three-fifths (60%) of the global population is predicted to use digital wallets by 2026.
There were 3.7 billion global digital wallet users in 2023 (46% of the population).
Half (50%) of all global online transactions were made with a mobile wallet in 2023.
38% of online transactions in the UK were made with a mobile wallet in 2023 and this is predicted to rise to 50% by 2027.
1 in 5 Brits (21%) regularly use their smartphone to pay for items in person.
Apple Pay is the most popular mobile payment service in the UK as of June 2024.
As of 2020, Apple Pay had 507 million users worldwide.
As of April 2022, Google Pay had 150 million users worldwide.
Almost half of Brits (45%) leave the house with only their phone as a payment method.
Digital wallet market share
In 2023, half (50%) of e-commerce payment transactions around the world were made with a mobile wallet, making it the most popular online payment method. This market share is set to increase further, as projections suggest that 61% of e-commerce payments will be made via digital wallets by 2027.
There’s no doubt that digital wallets are becoming a payment method of choice for many of us. With so much of our lives stored in our phones already, it’s easy to pay with mobile too!
In 2023, there were 3.7 billion digital wallet users globally, which is 46% of the population. It’s estimated that 60% of the global population will use digital wallets by 2026 and the total number of users will increase to 5.4 billion by 2028.
What is the most popular digital wallet?
Apple Pay is the most popular mobile payment service in the UK as of June 2024, with around 66% of those who used mobile payments in the previous year opting for this brand. It is followed quite a way behind by Google Pay, which 35% of users had paid with, and PayPal, which 30% had paid with.
As of 2020, Apple Pay had 507 million users worldwide. Two-thirds of UK residents (66%) of people who use some form of mobile payment in the UK chose to use Apple Pay for an in-person purchase as of July 2024, while two-fifths (41%) used Apple Pay for online purchases.
As of April 2022, Google Pay had 150 million users worldwide. In the UK, 35% of mobile payment users chose Google Pay for in-person transactions as of June 2024. Meanwhile, 28% opted to make an online purchase with Google Pay.
Globally, the value of transactions made using digital wallets is predicted to be approximately £7 trillion ($9 trillion) in 2023. By 2028, this is expected to grow a further 77%, with the value of transactions on mobile wallets reaching over £12 trillion ($16 trillion).
The UK digital wallet market share
The UK digital wallet market was worth $1.9 trillion (£) in 2023 and is projected to grow to $2.1 trillion (£) by 2027.
Digital transactions worth approximately $315 billion (£259 billion) were made in the UK in 2023, and 2 in 5 online purchases (38%) were completed using digital wallets. This is up from 29% of online purchases in 2019.
Digital wallets are a less popular in-store payment method in the UK compared to online, accounting for just 14% of transactions in 2023. However, this is still up from just 4% in 2019, and is predicted to increase to 29% of transactions by 2027.
The growth of digital wallets in the UK
Research by Finder has revealed that 45% of Brits aged 16 and over leave the house with only their phone as a payment method at least some of the time, which is estimated to be around 25 million people.
A quarter of Brits (25%) only leave the house without another way of paying occasionally, such as when they’re popping to the local shop. However, 1 in 5 (20%) admit to leaving their wallet behind frequently or all the time, with physical wallets becoming less necessary as digital wallets become more common.
There are clear differences across the generations, with almost three-quarters of generation Z (72%) and two-thirds of millennials (66%) opting for phone-only payments when leaving the house.
Meanwhile, only 1 in 4 baby boomers (23%) and 1 in 10 silent generation members (11%) admitted that they would be comfortable leaving the house with only a phone as a payment method, even if it was just for a short period of time.
Our 2024 survey found that 1 in 5 Brits (21%) regularly use a digital wallet on their phone to pay for items in person. This is more common among the younger generations, with a third of millenials and generation Z (aged 16-42) regularly using mobile payments.
Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact –
Matt Mckenna
UK Head of Communications T: +44 20 8191 8806
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Matthew Boyle is a banking and mortgages publisher at Finder. He has a 7-year history of publishing helpful guides to assist consumers in making better decisions. In his spare time, you will find him walking in the Norfolk countryside admiring the local wildlife. See full bio
Matthew's expertise
Matthew has written 285 Finder guides across topics including:
Helping first-time buyers apply for a mortgage
Comparing bank accounts and highlighting useful features
Sophie Barber is a content marketing manager for Finder in the UK after previously working as a content manager at a digital marketing agency. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative online articles for a variety of websites. See full bio
Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 77 Finder guides across topics including:
Publishing original personal finance research
Creating data-led statistics pages to highlight industry trends
An estimated £1.3 billion has been spent on unwanted gifts in the UK, with around 31 million Brits receiving a gift they did not want.
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