Philippines
Philippines Lags in Developing Cashless Transactions
Population
The Philippines had an estimated population of 109,581,078 as of the middle of 2020, according to UN data. Based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest UN data, the country had a population of 110,515,808 in 2021, with 47.5% living in urban areas, mostly Quezon City. The median age of the population was 25.7 years.
E-commerce
The average annual revenue per paying user was $112 in 2020, according to the PPRO APAC Report. Most cross-border e-commerce purchases by Filipino shoppers were of products from China, the United States and South Korea.
Payment preferences
Most Filipino shoppers prefer to pay by cash (37%), followed by bank transfers, cards, e-wallets and other payment methods. For cashless payments, the biggest players were local schemes (58%) followed by MasterCard, Visa and Amex, according to 2020 PPRO APAC.
Economy
According to IMF data, the Philippines had a gross domestic product of $376.8 billion in 2019, which declined to $367.36 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic. As the economy continues to recover, the GDP is expected to expand to about $398.33 billion in 2021.
Internet & mobile phone trends
According to Statista, 86% of the population aged 18 to 24 had internet access in 2019, while only 14% of those aged 55 years and above go online regularly. According to Datareportal, there were 73.91 million internet users in January 2021, with an internet penetration of 67%. Meanwhile, smartphone penetration stood at 45% by the end of 2020, according to the PPRO APAC Report.
Banking
According to data compiled by PPRO APAC, only 34% of Filipinos had bank accounts in 2020, with only 2% of them credit card holders.