Mobile payments span several related but distinct measures: phone payments, mobile apps, digital wallets, mobile money, contactless card payments and broader digital-payment rails. The figures below keep those definitions, populations and measurement periods separate, covering global markets, the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and emerging economies.
Key Mobile Payments Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2023, digital wallets handled an estimated $13.9 trillion in global consumer e-commerce and point-of-sale transaction value.
- In 2023, digital wallets represented an estimated 50% of global e-commerce transaction value.
- In 2023, digital wallets represented an estimated 30% of global consumer point-of-sale spend.
- By 2027, Worldpay forecast digital wallets would exceed $25 trillion in global transaction value.
- In 2024, global mobile-money accounts processed an estimated 108 billion transactions.
- In 2024, global mobile-money transactions were worth more than $1.68 trillion.
- Between 2023 and 2024, global mobile-money transaction volume grew an estimated 20%.
- In 2024, an active 30-day mobile-money account averaged 211 transactions globally.
- In 2024, U.S. consumers made an average of 11 payments with a mobile phone.
- In 2024, mobile phones were used for 23% of all U.S. consumer payments.
- In 2024, mobile phones were used for 45% of U.S. remote payments.
- In 2024, U.S. adults aged 18 to 24 used mobile phones for 45% of all payments.
- In the second half of 2023, euro-area contactless card payments at physical terminals reached 23.2 billion transactions.
- In the second half of 2023, contactless payments represented 70.6% of euro-area non-remote card payments by number.
- In 2024, 57% of UK adults used mobile wallets.
- In 2024, UK contactless debit and credit card payments totaled 18.9 billion.
- In 2021, 76% of adults globally had an account at a bank, other financial institution or mobile-money provider.
- In 2021, 33% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa had a mobile-money account.
Contents
- Global digital-wallet scale and forecasts
- Mobile-money adoption, activity and value
- U.S. mobile-payment adoption and usage
- Euro-area mobile and contactless payment data
- UK mobile-wallet and contactless trends
- Emerging-market mobile payments and inclusion
Global Digital-Wallet Mobile Payments Statistics
Worldpay’s 2024 report estimates that digital wallets handled $13.9 trillion in global consumer e-commerce and point-of-sale transaction value in 2023. The estimate covers a payment mechanism with multiple funding methods, so it is not a count of mobile-phone users or transactions.
| Global wallet measure | 2023 estimate | 2027 forecast |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction value | $13.9 trillion | More than $25 trillion |
| E-commerce share | 50% | — |
| Combined online and POS sales | — | 49% |
| Consumer POS spend share | 30% | — |
Source: Worldpay Global Payments Report 2024: Digital Wallet Maturity Ushers in a Golden Age of Payments.
Worldpay projected digital wallets to exceed $25 trillion in transaction value by 2027 and reach 49% of combined online and point-of-sale sales. These are industry forecasts based on Worldpay’s internal analysis and expert consultation, not observed future totals.
The funding mix also varies by market. In the United States, credit and debit cards funded an estimated 65% of digital wallets in the 2023 report, while account-to-account-funded wallets represented more than half of India’s point-of-sale and e-commerce value; A2A funding is broader than phone-only payment initiation.
In the Netherlands, account-to-account payments represented an estimated 64% of e-commerce transaction value in 2023. A2A is a related digital-payment rail rather than a synonym for mobile payments.
Mobile Money Statistics: Account Adoption, Activity and Value
Mobile money is phone-based stored-value and payment service, distinct from card wallets. GSMA estimates show a large global transaction base in 2024.
- Global mobile-money accounts processed about 108 billion transactions in 2024, according to The State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025.
- Global mobile-money transactions were worth more than $1.68 trillion in 2024, a GSMA supply-side estimate.
- Mobile-money transaction volume grew 20% year over year in 2024, while transaction value grew 15% versus 2023.
The per-account measures are conditional on accounts active during the previous 30 days, not all registered accounts.
| Global active-account measure | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Average transactions per active 30-day account | 195 | 211 |
| Average transaction value | $16.20 | $15.50 |
| Value transacted per active 30-day account per year | $3,144 | $3,269 |
Source and definitions: The State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025. The report’s release also describes the rounded 2024 value increase as approximately 16%, while the supplied series reports 15% year-over-year growth.
U.S. Mobile Payments Adoption and Usage Statistics
The Federal Reserve’s Diary of Consumer Payment Choice measures consumer-reported payments over a short diary period. Its results are survey averages, not administrative processor totals.
| U.S. consumer measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Average payments made with a mobile phone | 2023 | 10 per consumer |
| Average payments made with a mobile phone | 2024 | 11 per consumer |
| Mobile-phone share of all payments | 2024 | 23% |
| Mobile-phone share of in-person non-bill payments | 2024 | 11% |
| Mobile-phone share of remote payments | 2024 | 45% |
Source: 2025 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.
The survey also found that adults aged 18 to 24 used mobile phones for 45% of all payments in 2024. In a separate 2023 measure, mobile apps were used for 50% of person-to-person payments, which is not the same as all mobile-phone payments.
For context, U.S. consumers made an average of 46 payments per month in 2023, including an average of seven cash payments. Those figures describe the broader payment mix rather than mobile-payment frequency alone.
Euro-Area Mobile and Contactless Payment Data
ECB statistics provide a broad view of payment activity in the euro area, with contactless terminal data that includes cards, payment-enabled smartphones and wearables. The contactless series therefore does not isolate smartphone payments.
In the second half of 2023, euro-area non-cash payments totaled 71.2 billion transactions with a value of €111.4 trillion. Cards accounted for 56% of those transactions, credit transfers 21%, direct debits 15% and e-money payments 6%.
| Euro-area measure | H2 2023 result |
|---|---|
| Card-payment transactions | 39.6 billion |
| Contactless card payments at physical terminals | 23.2 billion |
| Contactless share of non-remote card payments by number | 70.6% |
| Cards’ share of all non-cash payment transactions | 56% |
| Credit transfers’ share | 21% |
Source: Payments statistics: second half of 2023.
The ECB’s categories are deliberately broader than mobile-only payments. In particular, contactless payments can be initiated with physical cards as well as smartphones and wearables, while e-money and credit transfers are related payment categories rather than direct measures of phone use.
UK Mobile-Wallet and Contactless Payment Trends
UK Finance reported that 57% of UK adults used mobile wallets in 2024. The same source reported 75% mobile-banking use, which is adjacent to payments and does not mean that a payment was made.
| UK payment measure | 2024 result |
|---|---|
| All payments | 48.8 billion |
| Debit-card payments | 26.1 billion |
| Contactless debit and credit card payments | 18.9 billion |
| Contactless share of all card payments | About 61% |
| Contactless share of debit-card payments | About 62% |
| Contactless share of credit and charge-card payments | About 55% |
Source: Over half of UK adults now use mobile wallets.
These contactless totals include physical cards and mobile devices where classified as contactless, so they should not be interpreted as smartphone-only results. UK cash payments fell below 10% of all payments for the first time in 2024, a contextual change in the broader payment mix rather than a direct mobile-payment measure.
Emerging-Market Mobile Payments and Financial Inclusion
World Bank Global Findex data measures adult account ownership and reported payment use. It combines bank, other financial-institution and mobile-money accounts in several measures, and pandemic first-use figures are retrospective and include card, phone and internet payments.
Global account ownership rose from 68% of adults in 2017 to 76% in 2021. In developing economies, 71% of adults had an account with a financial institution or mobile-money provider in 2021.
| Financial-inclusion measure | Population and period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Account ownership | Global adults, 2021 | 76% |
| Account ownership | Global adults, 2017 | 68% |
| Account ownership | Developing-economy adults, 2021 | 71% |
| Mobile-money account ownership | Sub-Saharan African adults, 2021 | 33% |
| Utility bills paid directly from an account | Developing-economy adults, 2021 | 18% |
Source: COVID-19 Drives Global Surge in use of Digital Payments and Global Findex Database 2021 reports increases in financial inclusion around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about three in four mobile-money account owners made or received a non-person-to-person payment in 2021. Among account holders, 39% used the account to save, while 7% of adults borrowed using a mobile-money account.
More than 40% of adults in low- and middle-income economies excluding China who made a merchant payment by card, phone or internet reported doing so for the first time after the pandemic began. The World Bank estimated that more than 80 million adults in India and more than 100 million adults in China made their first digital merchant payment after the pandemic began; these measures include more than mobile-only payments.