As of 1 September 2010, over one billion EMV(R) cards and 15.4 million EMV terminals were active globally. These are the latest EMV deployment figures reported by EMVCo, the EMV standards body collectively owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa.

The official figures, which represent the latest statistics from American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa as reported by their member financial institutions globally, highlight the growing usage of EMV technology worldwide with 36 per cent of total cards and 65 per cent of total terminals in circulation based on the EMV standard.

In response to the market's uptake of EMV technology globally, the standards body has, for the first time, reported the figures by region. Regional definitions have been dictated by the payment systems' existing reporting format. Europe Zone 1 has the highest adoption of EMV technology with 555.7 million cards and 9.4 million terminals, which represents an adoption rate of 65.4 per cent of cards and 84.7 per cent of terminals currently active in the region.

Within the Asia-Pacific region, 305.1 million cards and 3.2 million terminals were in operation, followed by the Canada, Latin American and the Caribbean region which has 182.2 million cards and two million terminals in circulation. These two regions share a similar rate of adoption with 26.6 per cent and 26.4 per cent of total cards, and 41.6 per cent and 55.6 per cent of total terminals EMV compliant respectively.

In Europe Zone 2, 22.8 million cards and 458,000 terminals are active, an adoption rate of 11.5 per cent of cards and 61.2 per cent of terminals; while 16.8 million cards and 348,000 terminals are deployed in Africa and the Middle East, an adoption rate of 13.7 per cent of cards and 62.5 per cent of terminals. The United States of America is excluded from the figures as there are currently no EMV programmes deployed...
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(how long will the US remain exempt? - fc)