The surge in the use of mobile phones and the rise of the e-commerce market, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic, led to the rapid adoption of digital payments worldwide. European countries are no exception, with millions of people choosing cashless payments over cash and credit cards.

According to data presented by Finaria.it, Europe is set to witness the most impressive digital payments growth this year, with transaction value surging by 28.3% to $1.17 trillion. The noticeable upward trend is expected to continue in the following years, with the entire industry reaching $1.95 trillion value 2025.

Over the years, cashless payments have become an appealing alternative to many European consumers, causing a significant impact on the payments industry traditionally dominated by cash, credit cards, and debit cards.

In 2017, the digital payments industry in Europe hit $668 billion, revealed the Statista survey. This figure jumped by 30% to $877 billion in the next two years, as real-time payments, mobile wallets, and P2P mobile payments continued drawing many new users.

Statistics show that the entire sector's growth slowed down as COVID-19 hit the European markets, with transaction value rising by just 4% to $918. billion in 2020.

However, the European digital payments industry is set to witness the most impressive growth in 2021, with transaction value rising by more than $260 billion in a year. Statista data indicates digital payments in Europe will surge by another $775 billion by 2025, more than the entire transaction value in 2018.

As the market's largest segment, digital commerce transactions dropped by 12% amid the coronavirus outbreak, with their value falling from $767.7 billion in 2019 to $674.2 billion in 2020. However, this figure is forecast to jump by 22% year over year to $823 billion in 2021. By 2025, the European digital commerce industry is set to reach $1 trillion value.

On the other hand, the mobile POS payments segment witnessed impressive growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics show mobile payments are expected to contribute 30%, or almost $355 billion, to the European digital payments value in 2021, 225% more than before the pandemic. The entire segment is forecast to surge by 130% in the following years and hit an $825 billion value by 2025.

Spain and Italy

With a $271 billion worth of digital payments in 2021, the United Kingdom represents the leading digital payments market in Europe. Statistics show digital payments in the U.K. jumped by 40% since the COVID-19 outbreak. By 2025, the transaction value is forecast to jump by another 60% to $439 billion.

Germany ranked as the second-largest European digital payments industry with a $178 billion transaction value in 2021, a 14% increase in two years. The Statista data also revealed Germany has the highest number of digital commerce users in Europe, or 62.4 million. By 2025, the German digital payments market is expected to hit $274 billion value.

Digital payments in France, as Europe's third-largest market, are set to grow by 26.7% YoY to $127 billion in 2021. In the next four years, this figure is expected to jump to almost $225 billion.

However, Italy and Spain are set to witness the most impressive digital payments growth this year, with their transaction values rising by 32.7% and 32.3% year over year to $66.7 billion and $65.8 billion, respectively.

Statistics show that Italian digital payments are set to double and hit almost $123 billion value by 2025. The transaction value in the Spanish digital payments market is expected to jump by 60% to $105 billion in this period.