OREANDA-NEWS. October 31, 2012. The Baltic Household Outlook prepared by SEB shows that Estonians prefer paying for goods and services with a bank card rather than with cash, which differs significantly from Latvian and Lithuanian consumers, reported the press-centre of SEB.

The survey of SEB Baltic banks showed that from January to September 2012, in Estonia, the sum of purchases paid with a bank card accounted for 47.5% of cash withdrawals while it was 30.4% and 26.8% in Latvia and Lithuania, respectively.

“Card payments are more popular in more densely populated areas. Lithuania’s population is more evenly distributed when compared to Estonia and Latvia, and a relatively smaller percentage of the population lives in big cities. Lithuanians have to withdraw cash more often to pay for goods and services in small rural shops and at the market,” said Triin Messimas, Development Manager of Private Loans at SEB Estonia.

In Lithuania and Latvia there are 14 and 12 card payment terminals per one thousand inhabitants, respectively, while in Estonia there are 21 payment terminals per one thousand inhabitants, which gives Estonians more options for paying with a card.

When it comes to the number of ATMs, Lithuania with 0.4 per one thousand inhabitants is also behind Latvia and Estonia, with 0.6 and 0.7 ATMs per one thousand inhabitants, respectively.

“It may seem counter-intuitive, but a smaller number of ATMs incites people to withdraw bigger sums in cash instead of paying more with a bank card,” said Triin Messimas. Statistics by Baltic central banks show that, on average, Estonians make 59 card payments per month, while Latvians make 24 and Lithuanians make 16.