According to a 2021 survey conducted by Ivanti, 91% of respondents in the UK have scanned a QR code at least once in their lives. 42% in France have made a transaction with a QR code, and 36% in Germany have scanned a QR code that led them to an unexpected experience, such as being taken to a suspicious website.
Asia and the Pacific
Although QR codes were invented in Japan, China was the first country to realize the potential of QR codes and use them on a large scale. Today, QR codes are the standard in China. These statistics show the boom of QR codes in China.
One China QR Code Market was valued at USD 437.2 million in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 645.2 million by 2033 at a significant CAGR of 12.1%.
China is known to have pioneered the use of QR codes in the world. Alipay and WeChat Pay, the two leading digital payment platforms in China, account for more than 90% of the country's mobile payment market.
As QR codes become an integral part of everyday life, nearly 90% of mobile payments in China rely on QR codes. By 2022, China had around 10 billion mobile devices using QR codes for online payments – a number that surpasses all other countries.
Users interact with QR codes 10-15 times a day in China.
The Japan QR Code Market is projected to grow to USD 277.1 million by 2033 from USD 173.1 million in 2023, registering a CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period.
QR code payments have surpassed electronic money in Japan to become the second most popular cashless student database payment method.
According to Statista, nearly 9.36 billion barcode and QR code payments were made in both online and physical stores in Japan in 2023.
Japan's monthly active users (MAU) of barcode and QR code payment services grew from 23.1 million in January 2020 to a whopping 80.9 million in June 2024.
The Japanese QR code-based payment market was worth 9.46 trillion Japanese yen in 2021 and is projected to reach 19.76 trillion Japanese yen by 2026.
India is one of the fastest growing markets for QR codes in Asia Pacific. QR code adoption in India has grown exponentially due to the rise of digital payments and UPI platforms.
According to a PwC report, the digital payments industry in India has witnessed a 42% year-on-year growth between 2023 and 2024. The report further projects a three-fold growth in the industry, from 159 billion transactions in 2024 to 481 billion in 2029.
A 2022 study conducted by Boston Consulting Group in collaboration with India's leading payments company PhonePe predicted that digital payments in India will reach a staggering $10 trillion by 2026 .
In September 2022, BHIM UPI QR code acceptance in India reached 216 million , representing a significant increase of 79.5% over the previous year.
In a 2022 market study by YouGov , 81% of consumers in China, 78% in Hong Kong, 77% in India, and 74% in Singapore agreed that they were using QR codes more actively than ever before.