Pro-cash activists in Australia organised a 'Draw Out Some Cash Day' on April 2 to protest against the increasing shift towards cashless transactions. This move comes in light of recent data from YouGov revealing that a significant portion of Australians still prefer using cash for their purchases.

According to the data, 43% of Australians still favour cash transactions. Interestingly, Millennials are the generation most likely to use cash, with 52% of them preferring this payment method. Despite this, 59% of Millennials believe that cash will become irrelevant in ten years.

This belief is also shared by more than half of Gen Z (53%) and Gen X (51%) respondents. In contrast, most Baby Boomers believe cash will remain relevant, with only 38% thinking it will become irrelevant.

Compared to other APAC countries, Australia's preference for cash is higher than Singapore (34%) and Hong Kong (31%), but lower than Indonesia (63%) and Thailand (53%).

The data also revealed that 31% of Australians prefer making cashless payments, while over a quarter have no clear preference. Half of Australians believe that cash will become irrelevant in ten years' time, while 42% believe it will maintain its relevance, and 8% are undecided.

The YouGov data is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys.

However, Reserve Bank data from a paper published by the RBA in the middle of last year suggests Pro-Cash activists may have missed the boat already. According to the RBA in a June 2023 called Cash Use and Attitudes in Australia found that, "The 2022 Consumer Payments Survey reveals that the ongoing decline in cash use in Australia has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. The share of in-person transactions made with cash halved, from 32 per cent to 16 per cent, over the three years to 2022."

"The decline in cash use was particularly pronounced for smaller payments; cash is now used less than electronic methods for all transaction sizes," according to the paper.