94.4 percent of Russians across the country use online payments at least once a year, a study by Russian research company Mediascope released in August shows. Having polled internet users aged 12-55 in April-May 2018 and June-July 2019, researchers found out that this figure has not changed much compared to 2018 with 94.3 percent of online payment users.
The majority of Russians use online payments for mobile services (85.8 percent), purchases in online stores (81 percent), and housing and communal services (74 percent). These categories have been among the most popular for several years.
The share of users paying online for taxis is rapidly growing. According to the study, it grew by almost 12 percent over the past year - from 45.4 percent in 2018 to 50.8 percent in 2019. It is notable that young people are more likely to pay for taxis: about 64 percent of respondents aged 18-24 and almost 63 percent in the 25-34 age group. The number of people who book hotels has also increased, by about 3 percent compared to 2018.
The share of users paying online has decreased only in two categories, money transfers (from 57.2 percent to 55 percent ) and online games (from 28.5 percent to 25.3 percent).
Natalya Nosova