Cash Intensity Index

The Cash Intensity Index (CII) is a static indicator that measures the level of "cash dependency" of major global economies. The calculation methodology of the Cash Intensity Index considers the incidence of cash on the national Gross Domestic Product in 144 economies worldwide. 

In 2022, Italy went from 33rd to 29th place among 144 countries, and entered (again) among the 30 worst economies in the world for cash intensity.





Cashless Society Index

The Cashless Society Index is a tool for monitoring the state of the art of electronic payments in Italy, highlighting the differences compared to other Member States of the European Union. The index is calculated on a scale from 1 to 10, and is divided into 16 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) grouped into 2 macro-areas: "enabling factors" and "payment status", which have different relevance on the final results (30% for the macro-area "enabling factors" and 70% for the macro-area "payment status").

In the 2022 edition of the Cashless Society Index, Italy has lost two positions and is now at the 24th place, the lowest position since the start of the Index monitoring (2016).

Click on the buttons above the chart to view the macro-areas.



Cashless Society Speedometer

The Cashless Society Speedometer (CSS) is the indicator that measures the speed with which European Union countries move in the transition to a cashless society. This objective is set to reach by 2025 the average level of transactions per capita with payment cards of the three best performing European countries (Denmark, Sweden and Finland), which have an average of 351 transactions per capita per year.

Italy has lost speed towards a Cashless Society and is now in penultimate position, only ahead of Bulgaria.



Regional Cashless Index

The Regional Cashless Index (RCI) monitors cashless developments in all Italian regions according to a methodology and a portfolio of indicators that follow the Cashless Society Index (CSI). Therefore, for the RCI the KPIs are grouped into two macro-areas as well - "enabling factors" and "payment status".

The 2022 ranking confirms the gap between the South and the rest of Italy, with Lombardy remaining stable at 1st place.



Metropolitan Cashless Index

The Metropolitan Cashless Index (MCI) allows to measure how the main metropolitan areas of Italy are evolving towards a cashless society, considering indicators that are relevant to local governments, including for instance the use of public administration digital tools (e.g. PagoPA).

In 2022, between the lowest and highest value there is a gap of 63.3%, increasing from the 62.7% gap of 2021. Rome lost 6 positions and went from 2nd to 8th, while Milan went down from 1st to 2nd. The best performer 2022 is Florence, which rises by two positions compared to 2021.