Sweden - The country with the least money in the world.

For Swedes, cash is gradually becoming something alien and...unnecessary because electronic payment habits have become so widespread that even street vendors accept cards.

Sweden is currently the least cash-dependent country in the world. Not only well-known retailers like Big Issue, but even street newspaper vendors in Stockholm have installed automated card payment systems instead of traditional cash.

Street vendors selling magazines in Sweden have also started accepting credit card payments instead of cash. Photo: Business Week

Pia Stolt, who works at Situation Stockholm, a magazine sold by homeless people on the streets of the capital, said: "More and more vendors are complaining to us that customers want to buy a magazine but they don't have cash. It would be great to solve this problem. So they worked with the Swedish mobile payment company iZettle to create an automated vending system."

We didn't know how the machine worked or how reluctant customers were to give their credit card information to homeless people, but the results were surprising. Revenue increased by 59% after implementing the new method.”

"Swedes are very honest, trustworthy, and that's a great approach. In the campaign for a cashless society, Swedes were very enthusiastic and adapted quickly."

The most active supporter of this campaign is Björn Ulvaeus, a former member of the once-famous band Abba. After his son was the victim of a robbery, he became more active and argued that cash is the main cause of many crimes. He also stated: "Every underground activity in the economy relies on cash."

The author of the song "Money, Money, Money" has gone cashless for over a year now, and the only problem he has is "not having coins to buy things at the supermarket." Since May 2013, the Abba museum in Stockholm has been implementing a cashless campaign. Ulvaeus said: "Sweden may be the first country in the world to go cashless."

Niklas Arvidsson, associate professor of modern industry at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, said: "Currently, in Sweden, four out of five transactions are made via card. In the 1990s, banks and merchants were the two biggest users of payment cards. But today, it has become widespread and is used by many consumers."

In London, bus passengers only started adopting cashless payment methods this year. But in Stockholm, it's been several years since paperless bus tickets were introduced after the public transport union declared that handling cash was an environmental issue.

Stockholm has banned the use of cash on public transport.

Associate Professor Niklas Arvidsson added: "Many attacks on bus drivers are related to bus tickets, and in Stockholm, the use of cash on public transport has been banned. Four years ago, due to a series of serious bank robberies, many banks became less keen on using cash in transactions. To date, five out of six major banks in Sweden, except for Handelsbanken, do not use cash in any possible operations. According to the Swedish Bankers' Association, the financial sector alone has become more efficient, more cost-effective, and has seen a significant reduction in armed robberies over the past 30 years."

"Public confidence in the government and banks will increase. Corruption will decrease. We will still feel safe even without having much cash on hand," said Niklas Arvidsson.

The Better Than Cash Alliance project, part of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), aims to help countries transition to electronic payments via Visa and Mastercard, and is funded by billionaire couple Bill and Melinda Gates.

But unlike other countries, Sweden acts out of a desire and passion to pursue a modern, friendly society.

Bengt Nilervall of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce said: “We are leading the world in the cashless payment trend. This new trend is more economical and safer because printing and transporting cash is quite expensive.”

Card payment technology offers numerous security measures for citizens, helping to protect people's money more effectively. Sweden is confident in its readiness to transition to this new trend.”

However, Sweden still has to consider how to help its 1.8 million retirees out of a total population of 10 million adapt to this new trend.

Johanna Hållén of the National Retirement Organization said: "Only 50% of our members use payment cards, and 7% have never used one. Therefore, we want the government to consider implementing this new method gradually."

The digital revolution in payments also presents a challenge for tourists visiting Sweden. They will have to pay for bus tickets in advance and register for a phone before entering the country. During this year's summer festival season in Sweden, many people experienced minor disruptions when the payment system broke down, forcing them to revert to the old method of debiting via IOU.

A private security expert, Björn Ericsson, is concerned that fraud can still occur. He stated: "According to figures from the Swedish National Council on Crime Prevention, fraud has doubled over the past decade."

Following the Snowden leak of classified information from the US National Security Agency (NSA), Björn Ericsson remained confident: "Most of Sweden's information remains in the system. I no longer hear anyone talking about Snowden or anything related to the NSA."

Arvidsson said: “The results of a survey I recently conducted show that about two-thirds of Swedes think that carrying cash is a human right. We still have our own currency, and that fits the Swedish identity. We even issued new banknotes in 2015. So, even if people don't need cash, they know that paper money still exists alongside cards.”

According to Infonet