Tap to Pay made up 79% of Visa face-to-face transactions globally and 66% in the United States in fiscal 2025. On Mastercard’s network, contactless penetration stood at 80% of all in-person switched purchase transactions in Q2 2026, and contactless reached 85% of euro area non-remote card payments by number in the second half of 2025. The contactless payment statistics below draw on card network filings, central bank releases and industry reports.
In the UK, growth has flattened. UK contactless card payments grew by only 3% in 2024, compared with 7% in 2023 and 30% in 2022. The figures that follow track share, volume, terminal acceptance, mobile wallets, transit, fraud and spending limits across five markets.
Key Takeaways
- Visa’s US contactless share trailed its global share by 13 percentage points in fiscal 2025, at 66% against 79%.
- Euro area contactless payments made up 85% of in-store card payments by number but 70% by value in H2 2025, a 15-point gap.
- UK contactless card transactions numbered 1.57 billion in June 2026, fewer than the 1.6 billion in June 2025, even as contactless carried 76% of debit card transactions.
- Visa had surpassed 40% contactless penetration in the US in fiscal 2023, and surpassed 50% in fiscal 2024.
- 63% of in-person payments in Canada were contactless in 2025, up from 60% in 2023.
- 65% of UK adults were registered for at least one mobile payment service in 2025, up from 57% in 2024.
Editor’s Choice
- Visa face-to-face transactions paid by tap, fiscal 2025: 79% globally.
- Mastercard in-person switched purchases made contactless, Q2 2026: 80%.
- Euro area contactless card payments, H2 2025: 32.9 billion, worth €0.9 trillion.
- UK contactless payments, 2025: 19.2 billion, or 39% of all payments.
- Euro area POS terminals accepting contactless, end of H2 2025: 93%.
- UK contactless fraud losses, 2025: £46.8 million.
Contactless Share of In-Person Card Payments Worldwide
- Tap to Pay comprised 79% of all Visa face-to-face transactions globally and 66% in the United States in fiscal 2025, according to Visa’s annual 10-K filing.
- Visa calls Tap to Pay the default way its cardholders pay, 20 years after it introduced the technology.
- Mastercard’s contactless penetration stood at 80% of all in-person switched purchase transactions in Q2 2026, up 5 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.
- In the euro area, contactless made up 85% of non-remote card payments by number and 70% by value in the second half of 2025, per the European Central Bank (ECB).
- Visa reported Tap to Pay penetration above 90% of face-to-face transactions in nearly 60 countries and territories in its fiscal 2024 filing.
| Network or market | Measure | Contactless share | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa, global | Face-to-face transactions | 79% | Fiscal 2025 |
| Visa, United States | Face-to-face transactions | 66% | Fiscal 2025 |
| Mastercard, global | In-person switched purchase transactions | 80% | Q2 2026 |
| Euro area | Non-remote card payments, by number | 85% | H2 2025 |
| Euro area | Non-remote card payments, by value | 70% | H2 2025 |
| Canada | In-person payments, by number | 63% | 2025 |
| Canada | In-person payments, by value | 61% | 2025 |
Source: Visa Form 10-K 2025; Mastercard Q2 2026 earnings call; European Central Bank 2026; Bank of Canada 2026
The card networks measure their own traffic, and the ECB counts non-remote card payments across the euro area, while the Bank of Canada’s 63% comes from a diary survey and is a share of all in-person payments, cash included, so the rows are not directly comparable.
About This Data
Figures come from Visa annual filings, a Mastercard earnings call and newsroom release, and central bank statistics from the ECB, the Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of Australia. An FCA rule notice and UK Finance industry reports complete the set, published from November 2023 to September 2026. Only official or company-reported data qualified, and figures are updated when sources publish new editions.
Euro Area Contactless Share of Card Payments
- Contactless made up 79% of euro area non-remote card payments by number and 62% by value in the first half of 2024.
- The shares rose to 81% by number and 65% by value in the second half of 2024.
- They reached 83% by number and 67% by value in the first half of 2025.
- In the second half of 2025, contactless accounted for 85% of non-remote card payments by number and 70% by value.
- The share by number gained 6 percentage points over the four half-years, while the share by value gained 8 percentage points.
View the data
Key finding: Contactless card payments made up 85% of the number of non-remote card payments in the euro area in the second half of 2025 but 70% of their value, according to the ECB. The persistent value gap suggests tapping still skews toward smaller purchases, which leaves larger baskets as the remaining room for growth.
Recent Developments
- July 2026: The ECB reported 32.9 billion contactless card payments in the euro area for the second half of 2025, 11.9% more than a year earlier.
- July 2026: Mastercard said contactless penetration stood at 80% of in-person switched purchase transactions in Q2 2026 and token penetration reached over 40% of all switched transactions.
- August 19, 2026: UK Finance reported that 65% of UK adults were registered for at least one mobile payment service in 2025, up from 57% in 2024.
- August 2026: In the Bank of Canada’s survey report, mobile form factors accounted for one quarter of contactless credit payments and 15% of contactless debit payments in 2025.
- September 16, 2026: UK Finance data showed contactless accounted for 67% of all credit card and 76% of all debit card transactions in June 2026.
Euro Area Contactless Payment Volumes
- Euro area contactless card payments increased by 13.2% to 25.8 billion in the first half of 2024, with total value rising to €0.7 trillion.
- They increased by 15.5% to 29.5 billion in the second half of 2024, worth €0.8 trillion.
- The first half of 2025 brought 29.6 billion contactless card payments, 12.8% more than a year earlier.
- The second half of 2025 reached 32.9 billion, up 11.9%, with total value up 12.8% to €0.9 trillion.
- On first-published ECB figures, half-year volume rose about 27.5% between H1 2024 and H2 2025.
View the data
Each figure above is as first published; later ECB releases revised earlier half-years, so growth between rows can differ from the year-on-year rates the ECB reports. Card taps are only one slice of euro area non-cash activity, and credit transfers and e-money sit alongside them in the wider digital payments statistics.
Contactless Acceptance at POS Terminals and ATMs
- The euro area had around 25.7 million POS terminals at the end of the second half of 2025, 24.6% more than a year earlier, and 93% accepted contactless transactions.
- 86% of euro area terminals accepted contactless transactions at the end of the first half of 2024.
- It rose to 92% of terminals by the end of the second half of 2024.
- 38% of euro area ATMs accepted contactless transactions at the end of the second half of 2025.
- ATM contactless acceptance was 30% at the end of the first half of 2024.
View the data
With almost every euro area terminal in the table’s terminal column able to read a tap (ATMs lag well behind), acceptance is no longer the constraint on adoption; our point of sale statistics cover the merchant side of that shift.
Visa Tap to Pay Statistics
- Excluding the United States, 76% of Visa face-to-face transactions globally were contactless in fiscal year 2023.
- Excluding the U.S., over 80% of face-to-face Visa transactions globally were contactless in fiscal year 2024.
- In the US, Visa had surpassed 40% contactless penetration and more than 520 million tap-to-pay-enabled Visa cards in fiscal year 2023.
- In fiscal 2024, Visa had surpassed 50% contactless penetration in the US, and more than 535 million Tap to Pay-enabled Visa cards had been issued.
- During fiscal 2025, Visa passed 20 million Tap to Phone transacting devices, which convert mobile devices with near field communication capability into payment acceptance terminals.
| Fiscal year | Contactless share outside the US | Contactless share in the US | Tap-enabled Visa cards in the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 76% | Over 40% | More than 520 million |
| 2024 | Over 80% | Over 50% | More than 535 million |
| 2025 | 79% (global, including US) | 66% | Not in cited release |
Source: Visa Form 10-K filings, fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025
Visa switched its headline measure in fiscal 2025 from a share excluding the US to a global share that includes it, so the last row is not a like-for-like continuation. Card counts and payments volume for the whole network are in our Visa statistics.
Mastercard Contactless Penetration Statistics
- Contactless payments accounted for more than 75% of Mastercard’s transactions in 2025, according to the company’s year-in-review.
- Mastercard’s contactless penetration reached 80% of all in-person switched purchase transactions in Q2 2026.
- That implies penetration of about 75% of in-person switched purchases in Q2 2025.
- Token penetration reached over 40% of all switched transactions in Q2 2026.
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Contactless share of transactions | More than 75% | 2025 |
| Contactless share of in-person switched purchases | 80% | Q2 2026 |
| Change in contactless share from a year earlier | Up 5 ppt | Q2 2026 |
| Token share of switched transactions | Over 40% | Q2 2026 |
| Switched transaction growth | 9% | Q2 2026 |
Source: Mastercard newsroom, 2025; Mastercard Q2 2026 earnings call
Mastercard measures its quarterly rate against in-person switched purchases, a narrower base than all transactions, so the two figures above are not one series. Network spending and card data sit in our Mastercard statistics.
Contactless Transit Payment Statistics
- Visa processed more than 2.4 billion contactless transactions on global transit systems in fiscal 2025, surpassing the number of transactions in 2024.
- Visa has activated more than 1,000 contactless public transport projects worldwide.
- In fiscal year 2023, Visa processed more than 1.6 billion contactless transit transactions, an increase of more than 30% year over year.
- Mastercard reported a 37% jump year over year in US riders using the cards already in their wallet to board transit in 2025.
- The Netherlands introduced tap-to-ride payments on all of its public transit in 2023, and less than two years later a quarter of its journeys are made by payment card.
| Fiscal year | Transit projects activated | Contactless transit transactions |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | More than 750 | More than 1.6 billion |
| 2024 | More than 870 | More than 2.0 billion |
| 2025 | More than 1,000 | More than 2.4 billion |
Source: Visa Form 10-K filings, fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025
Transit is where open-loop tapping replaces a separate ticket or fare card entirely.
UK Contactless Payment Statistics
- UK contactless payments, made with a physical card or a mobile device, rose to 19.2 billion in 2025, representing 39% of all payments, according to UK Finance.
- Contactless debit and credit card payment volumes totaled 18.9 billion in 2024.
- Contactless card payment growth slowed to 3% in 2024, from 7% in 2023 and 30% in 2022.
- Card payments accounted for 64% of all UK payments in 2025, and there are more than 100 million contactless debit cards in the UK.
- UK Finance expects contactless payments to be 43% of all payments by 2034, accounting for 24 billion payments.
View the data
Why it matters: UK contactless card payments grew by only 3% in 2024, yet the share of mobile payment users reached half of the UK adult population for the first time. UK Finance says contactless mobile payments now appear to be replacing contactless payments initiated using a physical card. A near-flat total says more about a change of device than a retreat from tapping.
UK Contactless Share of Credit and Debit Card Transactions
- Contactless accounted for 67% of all UK credit card and 76% of all debit card transactions in June 2026.
- In March 2026, the shares were 66% for credit cards and 75% for debit cards.
- The UK recorded 1.57 billion contactless card transactions in June 2026, fewer than the 1.6 billion in June 2025.
- The total value of contactless transactions was £26 billion in June 2026, a 1% decrease on £26.2 billion a year earlier.
- Contactless credit card transactions were 1.4% higher than in June 2025, while contactless debit card transactions were 5.2% lower.
- March 2026 brought 1.573 billion contactless card transactions, fewer than the 1.646 billion in March 2025.
View the data
Share and volume moved in different directions in 2026: The contactless share of card transactions edged up while the count of contactless transactions fell year on year, as the monthly counts and values below show.
| Month | Contactless transactions (billions) | Contactless value (£ billions) |
|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | 1.646 | 26.1 |
| March 2026 | 1.573 | 25.9 |
| June 2025 | 1.6 | 26.2 |
| June 2026 | 1.57 | 26 |
Source: UK Finance Card Spending Updates, June and September 2026
Credit card taps still grew in June while debit taps fell, so the monthly decline sits on the debit side; our debit card statistics follow that market in more depth.
Mobile Wallet Contactless Adoption
- 65% of UK adults were registered for at least one mobile payment service in 2025, up from 57% in 2024.
- 90% of UK mobile wallet users have a debit card set as their default payment method.
- In Australia, 43% of consumers used a mobile device to make a contactless payment during the 2025 survey’s diary week, up from 35% in 2022.
- Mobile wallet use among Australian respondents aged 65 and over doubled to around 19% relative to 2022.
- In Canada, mobile form factors accounted for one quarter of contactless credit payments and 15% of contactless debit payments in 2025.
| Market | Measure | Latest | Earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Adults registered for a mobile payment service | 65% (2025) | 57% (2024) |
| UK | Registered, ages 25 to 34 | 89% (2025) | Not in cited release |
| UK | Registered, ages 65 and over | 29% (2025) | Not in cited release |
| Australia | Consumers who paid by mobile contactless in diary week | 43% (2025) | 35% (2022) |
| Australia | Mobile wallet use, ages 65 and over | Around 19% (2025) | Doubled from 2022 |
| Canada | Mobile share of contactless debit payments | 15% (2025) | Not in cited release |
Source: UK Finance 2026; Reserve Bank of Australia 2026; Bank of Canada 2026
Phones are where contactless still has room to grow in markets where cards already dominate the till. The mobile wallet industry statistics track wallet users worldwide, and the Apple Pay vs Google Pay data compare the two main phone wallets.
Canada Contactless Payment Statistics
- 63% of Canadian in-person payments were contactless in 2025, slightly higher than 61% in 2024 and 60% in 2023.
- By value, contactless payments accounted for 61% of in-person purchases in 2025, compared with 57% in 2024 and 58% in 2023.
- Contactless credit payments made up 34% of purchase volume and 32% of purchase value in 2025.
- Contactless debit transactions represented 19% of purchase volume and 15% of purchase value.
- Cash was used in 18% of all payments at the point of sale in 2025, compared with 21% in 2024.
- The displacement of cash is mainly due to contactless card payments, including the growing use of cards stored on mobile devices, according to the Bank of Canada.
View the data
The yearly gain looks small, but the split by payment method shows how far tapping has moved past chip and PIN for both credit and debit cards.
View the data
By the numbers: In 2025, contactless credit payments accounted for 34% of Canadian purchase volume and contactless debit for 19%, against 14% and 7% for chip and PIN or online payments, per the Bank of Canada. Together, contactless credit and debit carried 53% of purchase volume.
Australia Card and Contactless Payment Statistics
- The share of Australian consumer payments made using cards declined from 76% in 2022 to around 73% in 2025, per the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Consumer Payments Survey.
- Cash use stabilised at around 15% of payments, compared with 13% in the 2022 survey.
- Debit cards now account for around half of all payments, more than three times their share in 2007.
- Over half of Australian respondents aged under 50 years used a mobile device to make a payment during the diary week.
View the data
Australia’s cash share rose slightly between the last two surveys, a reminder that the path toward cashless society adoption is not a straight line.
Contactless Fraud and Security Statistics
- UK contactless fraud totaled £46.8 million in 2025, an increase on the total reported in 2024, according to UK Finance.
- UK retail face-to-face card fraud, which covers in-person transactions including contactless, reached £86.3 million in 2025, a change of 1%.
- Face-to-face card fraud stood at £48.3 million in 2021 and £88.7 million in 2023.
- Much of this fraud relies on stealing the card, and often the PIN, through methods such as distraction thefts and shoulder surfing.
- Canadians rated contactless card payments easier to use but less secure than cash or chip and PIN card payments in 2025.
View the data
Is contactless safer than chip?
In the Bank of Canada’s survey, consumers in 2025 saw contactless card payments as less secure than cash or chip and PIN card payments. UK Finance put contactless fraud at £46.8 million in 2025; its UK retail face-to-face category, which covers in-person transactions in UK shops, includes fraud involving the contactless functionality of cards and mobile devices. Neither method is risk-free; the per-payment exposure on a tap depends on the limits covered below.
What is a disadvantage of using contactless payment?
One documented risk is a stolen card: UK Finance says much face-to-face fraud relies on stealing the card, and often the PIN, and its category includes fraud involving the contactless functionality on both payment cards and mobile devices. Users also trade some perceived security for speed, with Canadians rating tapping as easier to use but less secure than chip and PIN.
Contactless Payment Limits in the UK
- Before March 19, 2026, the UK exemption in Article 11 of the SCA-RTS set a limit of £100 for any single contactless transaction.
- The FCA instrument that implements a new risk-based exemption for contactless payments came into force on March 19, 2026.
- Under the new exemption, and subject to transaction monitoring requirements, payment service providers can set their own contactless limits.
- The FCA anticipates that most providers will continue to apply their existing limits in the short term, according to its December 2025 Handbook Notice.
| Article 11 limit (replaced March 19, 2026) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single contactless transaction | £100 |
| Cumulative total since last SCA | £300 |
| Consecutive transactions since last SCA | No more than 5 |
Source: Financial Conduct Authority, Handbook Notice 136 (December 2025)
Is there still a £100 limit on contactless?
The £100 cap was set as a regulatory limit, and individual providers generally adopt limits set at an industry-wide level. Since March 19, 2026, a risk-based exemption lets providers set their own contactless limits. The FCA expects most providers to keep their existing limits, so the familiar £100 cap is likely to stay common in the short term.
Why does contactless decline?
Before March 19, 2026, the contactless exemption covered single payments up to £100 and up to a cumulative £300 or 5 consecutive contactless transactions since the last strong customer authentication; the FCA expects most providers to keep those limits in the short term. Where a provider keeps them, a tap that crosses one of those thresholds needs authentication before approval, so the contactless attempt itself can fail at the terminal.
Conclusion
Tap to Pay now covers 79% of Visa face-to-face transactions globally, and contactless makes up 85% of euro area non-remote card payments by number in the ECB’s latest half-year data. The next gains depend less on new users than on phones replacing plastic and on larger purchases, where the value share still trails the count.
The UK is the market to watch now that the FCA’s flexibility is in force: Any provider that lifts its cap above £100 will test whether higher limits lift the value share, a shift our NFC payment statistics follow from the hardware side.
