Sweden was the first European country to introduce bank notes in 1661. Now it's come farther than most on the path toward getting rid of them, AP said.

"I can't see why we should be printing bank notes at all anymore," Björn Ulvaeus, former member of 1970's pop group ABBA, and a vocal proponent for a world without cash, told the newswire.

International media reports that Sweden could be pointing the way to a (nearly) cash-free economy. The Scandinavian country's cash-free moves include public buses, a few stores, and even some bank offices that don't handle cash anymore.

Still, it could take 20 years before consumers see a Sweden cash-free.