Photo/Shetuwang

More than half a billion Chinese people will choose to pay with their phones in brick-and-mortar shops, cafes and restaurants this year, China Daily reported Thursday.

That equals a penetration rate of more than 35 percent, the highest in the world, said the report, citing figures released by Statista, a Germany-based online statistics portal.

India comes in the second with a penetration rate of 29.5 percent, which was followed by Indonesia of 15.9 percent and Israel of 14.5 percent, according to the Statista Digital Market Outlook.

However, it also noted that the overall annual transaction value per customer in China is lower than that of the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn