I live in Norway, and can't really remember the last time I paid anything with cash. I do have relatives in rural areas, and the only real problem they've encountered has been due to KYC policies, where they'd have to drive 100 km to the nearest bank to show ID.
From time to time I see some people campaigning on social media to get back ATMs and similar (yes, there are towns here that don't even have ATMs anymore - they're just terribly expensive to operate, when less than 5% or so of the population withdraw cash...you can withdraw and deposit cash at super markets), but honestly the arguments tend to be somewhat flimsy.
It's usually some constructed scenario like "If I want to withdraw money in the middle of the night, on a Sunday, I can't do that!" or "I went to the [local supermarket] and tried to withdraw [tens of thousands of NOK] and they didn't have enough!"
Every single news article I've seen on people being "unbanked" has boiled down to those people refusing to sign some KYC agreement, or refusing to show up at the bank.
From time to time I see some people campaigning on social media to get back ATMs and similar (yes, there are towns here that don't even have ATMs anymore - they're just terribly expensive to operate, when less than 5% or so of the population withdraw cash...you can withdraw and deposit cash at super markets), but honestly the arguments tend to be somewhat flimsy.
It's usually some constructed scenario like "If I want to withdraw money in the middle of the night, on a Sunday, I can't do that!" or "I went to the [local supermarket] and tried to withdraw [tens of thousands of NOK] and they didn't have enough!"
Every single news article I've seen on people being "unbanked" has boiled down to those people refusing to sign some KYC agreement, or refusing to show up at the bank.