China leads the way as mobile payment users surpass one trillion

There was a major jump in the number of mobile payment users in 2020, powered by the coronavirus outbreak.

According to eMarketer research, last year, for the first time, total mobile payment users worldwide (those who had made a purchase at least once in the prior six months) surpassed one trillion.

The year-over-year growth was significant, increasing by 22.2%. Penetration among smartphone users increased as well, 44.6% in 2020, up from 38.3% in 2019.

eMarketer anticipates that mobile payment users worldwide will continue to grow but at a decreasing rate. This year, there will be 1.278 trillion worldwide, up 8% from 2020, and 1.498 trillion by 2025, representing 48.2% of all smartphone users.

China

China is the unrivalled leader here, accounting for 57.5% of users worldwide this year.

The country will have 735.0 million users in 2021, up 5.1% over last year. After double digit growth for several years, this is the first time that growth will slow to single digits, largely because the market is already so heavily saturated.

Already, 62.7% of the population in China uses a mobile payment platform at least once in a six month period, the highest penetration among the countries eMarketer tracks. By 2025, penetration will surpass two-thirds.

UK

In 2020, mobile payment users in the UK grew even faster than the global pace, rising 25%. Last year, users in the UK surpassed 10 million for the first time, falling just shy of a quarter (22.7%) of all smartphone users in the UK.

“The pandemic dramatically accelerated the shift toward a more cashless society in the UK, as consumers relied less on cash for in-store transactions,” says Cindy Liu, eMarketer Director, forecasting, at Insider Intelligence.

“One likely accelerator for mobile payment growth has been the increase in contactless payment limits to £45 ($57.71) last April during the early stages of the pandemic, and there are plans to increase that limit to £100 ($128.24) this year.”

She adds: “For the remainder of our forecast, growth in the UK will remain above the global rate. In 2021, we anticipate that there will be 11.2 million mobile payment users, up 9.9%. UK users are on track to reach 13.9 million people by 2025, representing 28.2% of all smartphone users.”