The UK is the third most cashless society in the world, pipped to the post by Canada and Sweden, which were found to be ahead of the trend in ditching cash.

The rankings were based on six metrics: the number of credit cards per person; the number of debit cards per person; the cards in issue that have contactless functionality; the growth of cashless payments over the past five years; payment transactions made using non-cash methods; and the number of people that are aware of what mobile payments options they have available to use.

The research, conducted by Forex Bonuses, looked at 20 of the world’s top economies, with only the top 10 ranked.

Canada topped the table because its citizens have more than two credit cards per person, and the majority (57pc) of payments are made using cashless methods. However, it had the lowest number of debit cards per capita of all countries included in the research, and only 26pc of its debt cards have contactless functionality.

In Sweden, 59pc of consumer transactions are completed through non-cash methods, and 47pc of citizens are aware of the types of mobile payment services available to them, making it the second most cashless country in the world, according to Forex Bonuses.