By Andrei Skvarsky.
The idea of complete replacement of banknotes and coins with electronic money is by and large rejected by Western society but has majority support in larger Asian nations, research by the MoneyTransfers.com consultancy and polling company YouGov suggests.
Just a quarter of Americans would like the United States to go cashless, according to a study by MoneyTransfer.com based on a YouGov survey that involved questioning a total of 25,823 people in 21 countries.
In Australia, Canada and the several European countries covered by the study, a cashless financial system would be welcomed by between one-fifth and one-third of the population with the exception of Italy, where about half the population thinks that parting with physical money is a good idea.
On the other hand, four-fifths of Indians are in favour of their country ditching physical money. This makes India the world’s number-one supporter of a cashless society.
The cashless society idea is supported by significant population majorities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates but by slightly less than half the population in China, the study suggests.
As regards percentages obtained in YouGov’s survey, the cashless system idea was supported by 24 per cent of American, 31 per cent of Danish, 27 per cent of Spanish, 26 per cent of British, 24 per cent of Swedish, and 20 per cent of German respondents.
France was at the bottom of the 21-nation list with only 18 per cent of respondents being in favour of a cashless system.
Italy topped the European part of the list with 52 per cent of Italian respondents willing to accept all their country’s money going electronic.
As for Asian respondents, the cashless society idea was supported by 65 per cent of Malaysians, 63 per cent of Indonesians, 20 per cent of Vietnamese, 56 per cent of Singaporeans, 52 percent of Filipinos, 51 per cent of Thais, 48 per cent of Taiwanese, 46 per cent of Chinese, and 46 per cent of Hongkongers.
Among Emirati respondents, 63 per cent would have been glad if their land went cashless.
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