China has over 7 billion bank cards in circulation in 2017

Each Chinese person has about 5 cards on average.

China had issued a total of 7.03 billion bank cards as of end-2017 which indicates that each Chinese person has about an average of 5 cards, according to a report by the China Banking Association.

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This represents a figure 10.3% higher than last year’s, CBA was quoted in state news agency Xinhua.

The number of transactions via bank cards also surged 29.4% YoY to 149 billion in 2017, with a total of $111.43t (735t yuan) swiped from bank cards.

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"Consumption via bank cards accounted for 48.7% in China's total retail sales of consumer goods, rising for a fourth year, giving a strong boost to consumption growth and upgrades," Huang Runzhong, secretary general of the association told Xinhua.