Sweden On Its Way To A Cashless Society

 

Cash is becoming more and more unpopular in Sweden. Economic experts say that the Scandinavian country could become the first cashless society within the next decade. Some go even further and claim that banknotes and coins may disappear altogether.

Sweden is one of the few EU countries that does not use the euro as payment. The Swedish  krona has been the nation's currency since 1873. However , in the past few years less money has been in circulation.  6 years ago over a hundred billion krona were in use, today only 80 billion are in circulation.

One of the reasons for Sweden's unwillingness to pay with cash is a system called Swish . It is a mobile app that has been developed by Swedish and Danish banks, which also promote a cashless system.

In everyday life about 80% of all payments are made with credit or bank cards , mobile phones or via internet banking. Even small items are paid for digitally. Not only costumers are happy with not having to carry so much cash around. Most shopkeepers want people to pay with these new systems because it offers them more security and convenience.

 

 

However, the trend toward a cashless society does not come without problems. Especially older people find it hard to get used to living without money. Many of them are without access to a computer or don't know how to use one.

 

 

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Words

  • access = here: can use
  • billion = a thousand million
  • cashless = without coins and banknotes
  • circulation = when money is exchanged from one person to another  in a society
  • claim = to say that something is true
  • coin =piece of round metal, used as money
  • convenience = here: something that saves you time and is easy to do
  • currency = the money that a country uses
  • decade = ten years
  • develop = produce, design, create
  • digitally = here: without real money
  • disappear = go away
  • economic = about the economy
  • especially = above all
  • item = article
  • offer = give
  • payment = the act of paying for something
  • promote = to help something become more popular
  • Scandinavia = the countries in the northern part of Europe - Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland
  • security = safety
  • society = people in general
  • unpopular = not liked
  • unwillingness = not willing, not wanting to
  • via = through