Determinants of digital payment usage in Serbia

Antonijević, Marija and Domazet, Ivana (2026) Determinants of digital payment usage in Serbia. Finansije, 81 (1-3). pp. 39-55. ISSN 0015-2145

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Abstract

This paper aims to identify the key drivers of digital payment (DP) usage in Serbia by examining the impact of socio-demographic characteristics. The data were obtained from the latest Global Findex database (2025) and included 974 respondents. Binary logistic regression was employed to determine the influence of gender, age, education, labor force status, income, and urbanicity on the likelihood of conducting DP. The results indicate that gender, age, education, labor force status and income are statistically significant predictors, whereas urbanicity has no statistically significant influence at 10% significance level. The key findings suggest that individuals aged 55+ have approximately 55% lower odds of using digital payments than those aged 18–34, while individuals out of the workforce have 76% lower odds compared to economically active individuals. Additionally, individuals with tertiary education or higher have nearly ten times greater odds of using digital payments than those with primary education or less, while those with secondary education have approximately 3.7 times higher odds. Moreover, individuals in higher income groups (from the third to the fifth quintile) are significantly more likely to use digital payments than those in the lowest income quintile, whereas no significant differences are observed for the second income quintile. The results also indicate no significant differences between urban and rural residents, while gender differences are only weakly significant. Analysis of the marginal effects confirms that digital payment usage is most strongly associated with higher educational attainment, active labor force participation, and higher income, while it is significantly lower among older respondents (55+). Gender differences are weakly significant, whereas no significant differences are observed between urban and rural residents. These insights contribute to a better understanding of individuals’ profiles and behavior, thereby providing a basis for formulating strategies to increase the use of digital payment channel.

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