Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Cash is no longer king
Latin America | Payments
May 24, 2024 – Latin Americans have moved away from cash as their favored method of payment. Instead, note partner Jesús Moreno Sosa and colleagues, the share of people who said in a survey that cash is their preferred payment method was cut in half between 2021 and 2023, while the proportion who named a noncash payment method more than doubled, with debit cards making the biggest gains.
To read the article, see “The rapid evolution of payments in Latin America,” May 7, 2024.
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Visual form
Comparison infographic.
Layout / body structure
The visual is a single row of payment-method columns, each connecting a 2021 circle to a 2023 circle. The reading order is left to right across cash, debit card, credit card, digital payment, and other.
What is being compared
It compares Latin Americans’ preferred in-person payment methods across two time points, showing how the mix changed from 2021 to 2023.
Measurement system
The values are percentages of respondents. Each payment method has one percentage bubble for 2021 and one for 2023, connected vertically so the size and direction of change are easy to see.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Five payment methods are shown as stacked pairs of circles with the earlier year on top and the later year below. The cash and debit-card columns dominate visually, while the smaller credit-card, digital-payment, and other columns sit to the right.
Main takeaway from the visual
The graphic shows that debit cards overtook cash as the most preferred in-person payment method, with cash falling sharply while card and digital methods gained ground.
Key standout values or extremes
Cash drops from 59 percent in 2021 to 30 percent in 2023, while debit cards rise from 16 percent to 36 percent. Credit cards move from 7 percent to 18 percent, digital payments from 6 percent to 10 percent, and the other category falls from 12 percent to 6 percent.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.