BUDAPEST -- In the first quarter of this year, 46 percent of Hungarians over age 15 had a bank card as compared to 40 percent a year ago, according to a Hungarian News Agency report.
A survey conducted by GfK Market Research Institute, based on interviews with 1,000 respondents, showed the largest increases among women, people under 30, people with higher educations and residents of large towns.
Most respondents said they used their cards to obtain cash from ATMs and pay for retail purchases at stores.
Two-thirds of the card holders withdraw cash from ATMs one to three times a month, with one in six respondents doing so once a week. The average cash withdrawal amounted to 20,400 Hungarian furints (approximately $82.86 U.S.)
The ratio of people using plastic to pay in shops rose to 41 percent from 34 percent. GfK pollsters found bank cards had been most frequently used in shops by 20-49-year-olds, university and college graduates and members of households with monthly net incomes of more than HUF 140,000 (about $569 U.S.)
Sixteen per cent of respondents said they planned to obtain a bank card in the next two years.
