Where Digital Payments Power the Online Ticketing Economy 2026
Introduction
As Congress debates whether Ticketmaster holds too much power over concert and event ticketing, one critical dimension of the debate often goes unexamined: the payment infrastructure that makes digital ticketing possible in the first place. Every ticket sold online depends on a payment system — a credit card, a debit card, a mobile money account, or a bank transfer — and the availability of these systems varies dramatically across the world.
In Denmark, 100% of adults can make a digital payment. In South Sudan, only 4.8% can. This report ranks 142 economies by digital payment adoption and examines what the Ticketmaster debate reveals about the broader digital payments divide.
For context on how different payment systems compare, see our explainer on credit cards vs mobile money. For the broader picture on financial inclusion, see our state of financial inclusion report.
The data: where digital payments dominate
The digital payment adoption metric from the Global Findex measures the share of adults (15+) who made or received a digital payment in the past year — including payments using a card, mobile money, or online transfer. The table below shows the 15 economies with the highest adoption rates.
| Rank | Country | Digital Payment Adoption (% of adults) | Data year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark | 100.0% | 2021 |
| 2 | Iceland | 99.9% | 2021 |
| 3 | Germany | 99.5% | 2021 |
| 4 | Norway | 99.5% | 2021 |
| 5 | Austria | 99.3% | 2021 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 99.2% | 2021 |
| 7 | Sweden | 99.1% | 2021 |
| 8 | Australia | 98.9% | 2021 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 98.8% | 2021 |
| 10 | Estonia | 98.7% | 2021 |
| 11 | Finland | 98.5% | 2021 |
| 12 | France | 98.4% | 2021 |
| 13 | Canada | 98.3% | 2021 |
| 14 | Switzerland | 98.2% | 2021 |
| 15 | Ireland | 98.2% | 2021 |
In all of these economies, the payment infrastructure for online ticketing is essentially universal — nearly every adult has a way to buy a concert ticket online. For those who prefer cards, credit card ownership in these countries ranges from Canada’s 82.7% to Germany’s 42.9%, as detailed in our credit card ownership rankings.
Where the digital payments divide leaves ticketing out of reach
The bottom of the ranking tells a very different story. In the 15 economies with the lowest digital payment adoption, buying a concert ticket online is a practical impossibility for the vast majority of adults.
| Rank | Country | Digital Payment Adoption (% of adults) | Data year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 142 | South Sudan | 4.8% | 2021 |
| 141 | Afghanistan | 7.9% | 2021 |
| 140 | Yemen | 9.3% | 2022 |
| 139 | Niger | 12.3% | 2024 |
| 138 | Algeria | 13.1% | 2024 |
| 137 | Nicaragua | 16.4% | 2024 |
| 136 | Chad | 18.0% | 2024 |
| 135 | Lebanon | 20.3% | 2024 |
| 134 | Ethiopia | 20.7% | 2024 |
| 133 | Palestine | 20.8% | 2024 |
In these economies, the Ticketmaster debate — about market concentration in online ticketing — is abstract. The more pressing question is whether any digital payment channel exists at all. For many, mobile money provides the only path to digital payments, as seen in Kenya (87.5% mobile money account ownership) and Ghana (78.3%). For more on this alternative path, see our report on the top mobile money countries.
The Ticketmaster connection: credit cards and online commerce
Ticketmaster’s market power is built on the US payment infrastructure. The United States ranks 28th globally at 93% digital payment adoption. But the dominant payment method for US ticket sales is the credit card: 66.7% of US adults own one (rank 9 of 142 globally, as shown in our credit card ownership rankings).
Credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard) provide the rails for Ticketmaster’s transactions, and the interchange fees embedded in card payments are part of the broader pricing structure that critics argue inflates ticket costs. For a deeper dive into how different payment methods compare on cost, see our article on the debit card divide.
Online purchase data reinforces this picture: Norway leads at 86.6% of adults buying online, followed by Denmark at 86.6%, and Sweden at 78.5%. The United States sits at 74.7% — high in absolute terms, but the payment system underpinning those purchases (credit cards) is the subject of increasing scrutiny both from Congress and from consumer advocates.
How payment systems differ across economies
The Ticketmaster story is a reminder that the payment system a country uses shapes its digital economy. In high-adoption countries like Denmark and Norway, the dominant model is card-on-bank-account — nearly universal account ownership (98.7% and 98.6%) combined with high card penetration.
In much of Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, mobile money fills the gap. Kenya has 87.5% mobile money account ownership but only 5.8% credit card ownership. For ticketing in these markets, mobile money platforms like M-Pesa serve the role that Visa and Mastercard play in high-income economies.
For more on how these two systems compare, see our explainer on credit cards vs mobile money and our analysis of the digital payments divide.
Sources & method
Data comes from the World Bank Global Findex (digital payment adoption, credit card ownership, account ownership) and the IMF Financial Access Survey. Digital payment adoption is defined as the percentage of adults who made or received a digital payment in the past year. For a full explanation of how these metrics are constructed and their limitations, see our methodology page and the guide to reading fintech statistics responsibly.