Hi,
I am doing an seminar paper to discuss "Future trends in cash
transaactions", I dont need to much in depth detail as i need only
2000 words.

I am defining cash as "Paper money and coins"
Non cash transactions are credit cards,debit cards,store
cards,cheques,bank transfers etc.

I want to look at statistics on these transactions on a global scale.
Over the last twenty years, or whatever is appropriate.

Here are some global statistics on trends in payment transactions. 
Although cash and checks remain dominant worldwide, they are declining
in popularity.  Debit cards in particular are growing rapidly and
displacing them.

"Personal consumer expenditure represents the market value of all
goods and services purchased by households and non-profit
institutions, excluding the purchase of homes. Today, global PCE is at
US$22 trillion and is comprised primarily of cash and check payments."

Visa processed 2.8% of worldwide personal consumer expenditure in
1994.  At the end of 2003, this had risen to 8.9%.  By 2012, Visa
expects to process at least 12% of worldwide personal consumer
expenditure.

"Five years ago, global Visa credit card volume was nearly twice as
much as global Visa debit. By the end of December 2003, debit had
overtaken credit, with a total debit volume of $1.48 trillion against
$1.45 trillion on credit cards."

"This landmark in the way that people pay is underlined by the share
of personal consumption expenditure (PCE) spent on Visa cards. In the
credit-dominated days of 1993, Visa sales volume accounted for just
three percent of this total. By the end of 2003, the share had risen
to 8.9 percent as cardholders increasingly relied on plastic rather
than cash and checks."

"Visa is the world's leading payment brand generating US$3 trillion in
annual card sales volume.  Visa has unsurpassed acceptance in more
than 150 countries."  Therefore, the trends it is observing are likely
to be truly representative of global payment trends.

Sincerely,

Wonko

Sources:

"A World of Payment Choices" Visa
http://corporate.visa.com/md/nb/hot/pdf/pc_payment_choices.pdf

"Statistics" Visa (2003) http://corporate.visa.com/md/st/main.jsp

"Visa Corporate Fact Sheet" Visa
http://corporate.visa.com/md/fs/corporate/corporate.jsp

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Request for Answer Clarification by d_g_ball-ga on 15 Nov 2004 15:21 PST

I really needed it in spreadsheet format, with data that i can
analyse. Although what you have said so far has helped.

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Clarification of Answer by wonko-ga on 22 Nov 2004 16:10 PST

Regrettably, I have been unable to locate data in the form you have
requested.  However, I have found an additional sources of payment
transaction information you may find helpful at ePaynews.com.  The
site has lots of material on payment transaction statistics.

Example articles: "Payment Cards Are Fueling A Cashless Society"
ePaynews.com (October 7, 2004)
http://www.epaynews.com/index.cgi?survey=&ref=browse&f=view&id=1097166158622215212&block=

"MasterCard Sees Growing Credit, Debit Use" ePaynews.com (November 9,
2001) http://www.epaynews.com/index.cgi?survey=false&keywords=&optional=Cash%20check%20credit%20card&subject=Business%20Payment%20%2F%20POS&location=All%20Geographic%20References&ref=filter&f=view&id=1005298946621726189&block=

Sincerely,

Wonko

Several groups in the USA are attempting to discourage the use of
cash, and use of cash is declining slowly. In my opinion, further
decline will require vigorous discouragement, as cash makes illegal
and questionable transactions safer, and allows partial avoidance of
some kinds of taxes. Poor folks typically prefer cash as their bad
credit rating means they can only have pre-paid credit cards and they
typically must pay $10 per month for a checking account they rarely
use as their balance is close to zero 20 days per month. The $30
over-draft charges, late charges and over the limit charges and anual
fees are a disaster for poor folks who make more errors than middle
class and are more likely to be robbed by dishonest bank etc
employees.   Neil