Number of card payments in Germany
Number of card payments in Germany stood at 14,532.7 million transactions in 2025, according to Deutsche Bundesbank. It is one of the indicators in the Payment statistics table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2023 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Payment statistics table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of transactions | ||||
| Card payments | 14,532.7 | 13,073.5 | 11,798 | |
| Electronic card payments | 14,452.4 | 12,983.2 | 11,697 |
Understanding number of card payments in Germany
POS transactions and online checkouts together form the total count of payment card purchases tracked in this row. It aggregates all purchase transactions completed with cards issued by resident payment service providers, encompassing debit, credit, delayed debit, and commercial payment functions. The coverage spans both physical point-of-sale transactions and remote e-commerce checkouts across domestic and international acquiring networks. Distinct from other rows in this section, it strictly records merchant purchase transactions; cash withdrawals at automated teller machines, card-based balance transfers, and cash disbursements at bank tellers are excluded from this count.
Because this metric is presented on an annual calendar basis, it absorbs quarterly retail seasonality, such as year-end shopping cycles and summer travel variations, into a consolidated comparative figure. Year-on-year analysis of annual totals provides an appropriate framework for examining structural shifts in payment card usage without encountering calendar-day composition biases. Statistical breaks can occur when reporting guidelines reclassify hybrid card products or revise institutional thresholds for reporting card schemes under domestic issuing programs. A frequent analytical pitfall is equating transaction volume with retail sales turnover, as changes in transaction counts can reflect shifts in the frequency of small-denomination payments rather than adjustments in overall financial expenditure.
Frequently asked questions
- Are transactions made by tourists using foreign-issued cards in Germany included in this figure?
- This series covers transactions executed with payment cards issued by institutions resident in Germany, whether used domestically or abroad.
- Does this count differentiate between credit cards and debit cards?
- Both credit and debit card transactions are consolidated into this single aggregate row.
- Are cash advances obtained at store checkouts included here?
- Pure cash-back amounts obtained at merchant terminals are typically excluded or treated under cash distribution channels rather than purchase transactions.