Euro

The euro (<a href="/facts/Currency_symbol/cCPm1sPP">symbol</a>: <a href="/facts/Euro_sign/boK32Hs4">€</a>; <a href="/facts/ISO_4217/tk7Y5uh6">currency code</a>: EUR) is the official <a href="/facts/Currency/g5GPGfTe">currency</a> of 20 of the 27 <a href="/facts/Member_state_of_the_European_Union/hsFC1pJH">member states</a> of the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a>. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the <a href="/facts/Eurozone/rK14yHsz">eurozone</a>. The euro is divided into 100 <a href="/facts/1_euro_cent_coin/jY84pGBv">euro cents</a>.
The currency is also used officially by the <a href="/facts/Institutions_of_the_European_Union/IEm4202Q">institutions of the European Union</a>, by <a href="/facts/International_status_and_usage_of_the_euro/99TdWagw">four European microstates</a> that are not EU members, the <a href="/facts/British_Overseas_Territory/fUjVAy3E">British Overseas Territory</a> of <a href="/facts/Akrotiri_and_Dhekelia/2RPAL15s">Akrotiri and Dhekelia</a>, as well as unilaterally by <a href="/facts/Montenegro/QynKJrw5">Montenegro</a> and <a href="/facts/Kosovo/lbyzI6UW">Kosovo</a>. Outside Europe, a number of <a href="/facts/Special_territories_of_EU_members/IBtLk2a9">special territories of EU members</a> also use the euro as their currency. 
The euro is used by 350 million people in Europe and additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use <a href="/facts/Currencies_pegged_to_the_euro/NWG2nlCx">currencies pegged to the euro</a>. It is the second-largest <a href="/facts/Reserve_currency/TsQLVutH">reserve currency</a> as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the <a href="/facts/United_States_dollar/naEEDUhC">United States dollar</a>. As of December 2019, with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.
The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in <a href="/facts/Madrid/B63nL2DB">Madrid</a>. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an <a href="/facts/Unit_of_account/PFbrK8FM">accounting currency</a> on 1 January 1999, replacing the former <a href="/facts/European_Currency_Unit/0kcKLfIw">European Currency Unit</a> (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743 at the time). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.
Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below the US dollar, but has since traded near parity with or above the US dollar, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008 and since then returning near to its original issue rate. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades due in part to the <a href="/facts/Economic_impact_of_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine/CEelVs7t">2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine</a>. Then, in September 2022, the US dollar again had a face value higher than the euro, at around US$0.95 per euro.

Euro open-in-new

Euro