Nearly 8,000 fewer ATMs in just one year: a historic low, with just 37,000 remaining across Spain.

There are increasingly fewer ATMs in Spain. By mid-2023 , there were just over 45,174 ATMs left in our country , a figure that marked a historic low at the time but has continued to decline considerably over the years.

According to the Bank of Spain's latest 'Payment Statistics' report, the total number of ATMs fell to 37,473 in the first half of 2024, almost 8,000 fewer terminals in one year.

As you can imagine, rural areas are the most affected , especially those with fewer than 500 inhabitants, who are forced to travel several kilometers simply to withdraw cash, a payment method that remains vital to everyone's daily economy , but even more so for older people and those with fewer digital skills.

The Bank of Spain's data isn't the only one that highlights the decline. According to the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), since 2008, 30% of terminals have disappeared due to the closure of bank branches and the digitalization of the sector, resulting in around one and a half million Spaniards without an ATM in their municipality.

The fact that ATMs are disappearing has ceased to be speculation and has become such a grotesque reality that Denaria , a platform for the defense of cash, has asked the Government to urgently implement a national cash system that guarantees its availability and functionality as a critical structure.

You don't have to go far back to discover the reason for this request. The blackout on April 28th rendered the few remaining ATMs unusable, making cash the only form of payment in the face of the uncertainty of living without electricity or internet. This is why it is essential to strengthen the ATM network, especially in rural areas or areas with low banking density because "when digital fails, cash responds," the platform maintains.

All of these demands are also based on the fact that ATM withdrawals reached historic highs at the end of 2024. Last year , more than €127 million were withdrawn from these terminals, an increase of more than 2% compared to 2023, the highest amount of ATM withdrawals in the history of Spain. These data only confirm that Spaniards continue to rely on cash despite the increasing difficulties they face in accessing it due to fewer ATMs.

Given the trend of the last decade, everything points to the number of ATMs continuing to decline in the coming years. It seems the only viable solution lies with the Post Office.

The public postal service is increasingly offering more services, including cash withdrawals . You can request the money through the bank's app, which will respond with a tracking number, and you can then withdraw a maximum of 2,499 at one of the more than 2,000 Correos offices across the country. However, once again, those unfamiliar with new technologies are being isolated, as they see an ATM as an easier way to withdraw money—if they were lucky enough to live near one.

Another solution could be mobile banking , an option that entities like CaixaBank have been offering for years. This consists of a fleet of mobile offices that travel throughout Spain to provide financial coverage to several financially isolated municipalities. It serves more than 800 towns in more than a dozen provinces , visiting between one and four times a month.

Whatever the outcome, the fact is that the disappearance of ATMs has a direct impact on the daily lives of Spaniards, almost always for the worse. Furthermore, the potential implementation of the digital euro already has millions of detractors , who see in these two trends a desire to control digital transactions and eliminate traditional ones, given that cash is much more difficult to trace.

However, pending the publication of new data by the Bank of Spain and the CNMC, everything indicates that the number of terminals will have fallen again this year and will continue to do so in the coming years.