Euro banknotes


s of the euro, the currency of the euro area and institutions, have been in circulation since the first series was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. In 1999 the euro was introduced virtually, and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. The euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the European Union.
Denominations of the notes range from €5 to €500 and, unlike euro coins, the design is identical across the whole of the Eurozone, although they are issued and printed in various member states. The euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel. They measure from to and have a variety of color schemes. The euro notes contain many complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink characteristics, holograms, optically variable inks and microprinting that document their authenticity. While euro coins have a national side indicating the country of issue, euro notes lack this. Instead, this information is shown by the first character of each note's [|serial number].
According to European Central Bank estimates, in May 2019, there were about 22.563 billion banknotes in circulation around the Eurozone, with a total value of about €1.231 trillion. On 8 November 2012, the European Central Bank announced that the first series of notes would be replaced by the Europa series, starting with the 5 euro note on 2 May 2013.
Estimates suggest that the average life of a euro banknote is about three years before it is replaced due to wear, but individual lifespans vary depending on denomination, from less than a year for €5 banknote to over 30 years for €500 banknote. High denomination banknotes last longer as they are less frequently used. The Europa series of the lower denominations €5 and €10 is designed to last longer than the previous one due to additional coating.

History

The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999. The euro's creation had been a goal of the European Union and its predecessors since the 1960s. The Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark.
In 1999, the currency was born virtually, and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. It rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the rest of the EU. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty formalised the Euro's political authority, the Euro Group, alongside the European Central Bank.
Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 and Lithuania in 2015.

Specification

There are seven different denominations of the euro banknotes: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500. Each has a distinctive colour and size. The designs for each of them have a common theme of European architecture in various artistic eras. The obverse of the banknote features windows or gateways while the reverse bears different types of bridges. The architectural examples are stylised illustrations, not representations of existing monuments.

1st series ES1 (issued 2002)

The following table depicts the design characteristics of the 1st series of euro notes.
All the notes of the initial series of euro notes bear the European flag, a map of the continent on the reverse, the name "euro" in both Latin and Greek script and the signature of a president of the ECB, depending on when the banknote was printed. The 12 stars from the flag are also incorporated into every note.
The notes also carry the acronyms of the name of the European Central Bank in five linguistic variants, covering all official languages of the EU in 2002, and now 19 out of 24 official languages of the EU28, in the following order:
The order is determined by the EU country listing order, with BCE ahead of ECB because of the national precedence of Belgium's two main languages, followed by the remaining languages of Germany, Greece and Finland, in that order.
The euro banknote initial designs were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by the Council of the European Monetary Institute on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected on 3 December 1996.
The euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel.
In the first and Europa series, the Azores, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique, Réunion, and the Canary Islands, overseas territories of the eurozone member states, which also use the euro, are shown under the map in separate boxes. Cyprus and Malta were not shown on the first series because they were not in the EU in 2002, when the banknotes were issued, even though they joined the Eurozone in 2008. The map did not stretch as far east as Cyprus, while Malta was too small to be depicted.2. However, both Cyprus and Malta are depicted on the Europa series note.

2nd series ES2 (Europa series, issued from 2013)

The following table depicts the design characteristics of the 2nd series of euro notes.
The Europa series banknotes, similarly to the first series, bear the European flag, a map of the continent on the reverse and the signature of Mario Draghi, since 1 November 2011 president of the ECB. The 12 stars from the flag are also incorporated into the notes. On 4 May 2016 the European Central Bank decided not to issue a 500 euro banknote for the Europa series.
The banknote also has the name "euro", but in three scripts: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic.
The 2nd series €100 and €200 notes are a different size to the €100 and €200 notes from the 1st series. Both denominations are now the same height as the €50 banknote, which makes them more comfortable to use. Their length remains unchanged.
The design for the 50, 100 and 200 euro notes features the acronyms of the name of the European Central Bank in ten linguistic variants, covering all official languages of the EU28, in the following order:
The 5 euro, 10 euro and 20 euro notes do not feature ESB, as Croatian became an official language only in July 2013 with the accession of Croatia, after the introduction of the banknote design earlier that year. The order in which the acronyms are shown is determined by the same principles as for Series 1: the language of Bulgaria precedes that of Germany ; EKP now precedes ΕΚΤ due to the accession of Estonia ; and the languages of Croatia, Hungary, Malta and Poland trail the list.
The notes of the Europa series do not show the same year. The year shown is the year the note is issued.
The Europa series euro banknotes are supposedly more durable than the first series banknotes.
Reinhold Gerstetter, an independent banknote designer, was chosen by the European Central Bank to redesign the euro notes.

Design

Bridges

Due to the great number of historic bridges, arches, and gateways throughout the European continent, all the structures represented on the notes are entirely stylised illustrations of the relevant architectural styles, designed to evoke the landmarks within the European Union, representing various European ages and styles. For example, the 5 euro note has a generic rendition of Classical architecture, the 10 euro note of Romanesque architecture, the 20 euro note of Gothic architecture, the 50 euro note of the Renaissance, the 100 euro note of Baroque and Rococo, the 200 euro note of Art Nouveau and the 500 euro note of modern architecture. The initial designs by Robert Kalina were of actual bridges, including the Rialto Bridge in Venice and the Pont de Neuilly in Paris, and were subsequently rendered more generic. In 2011, Dutch artist Robin Stam and the town of Spijkenisse in the Netherlands built seven bridges of colored concrete after the designs on the seven euro banknotes.

Signature

The euro banknotes bear the signature of the President of the European Central Bank.
In the first series, notes printed between November 2003 and March 2012 show the signature of Jean Claude Trichet, the second President of the ECB, replacing that of the first president, Wim Duisenberg, who was the ECB president when the first euro banknotes and coins were issued, until 2003. Banknotes printed after March 2012 bear the signature of the third, and incumbent ECB President, Mario Draghi.
As at 2017, only the signature of the third, incumbent ECB President, Mario Draghi, features on the Europa series notes.
From 2020, Christine Lagarde's signature will gradually begin to appear on banknotes entering circulation, becoming the fourth signature to appear on Euro banknotes.

Security features

The European Central Bank has described some of the basic security features of the euro notes that allow the general public to recognise the authenticity of their currency at a glance:
However, in the interest of advanced security of the euro notes, the full list of these features is a closely guarded secret of the European Central Bank and the National Central Banks of the Eurosystem.
Still, between the official descriptions and independent discoveries made by observant users, it is thought that the euro notes have at least eleven different security features, which are:
NoteBarcodeManchester
€50110 10100
€100101 10110
€201010 10100000
€500110 10101000
€1000101 10101100
€2000101 01101110
€5000101 01011111

Europa series

The European Central Bank intends to redesign the notes every seven or eight years. A new series, called the "Europa series", has been released from 2013; the first notes entered circulation on 2 May 2013. The new series includes slight changes, notably the inclusion of the face of the mythological princess Europa in the watermark and in the hologram stripe.
New production and anti-counterfeiting techniques are employed on the new notes, but the design shares the colours of the first series and the theme of bridges and arches. The new notes are nonetheless recognisable as a new series.
The new notes also reflect the expansion of the European Union: every member of the EU is depicted on it. The initial series did not include the recent members Cyprus and Malta
The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet features on the Europa series banknotes, as a result of Bulgaria joining the European Union in 2007. Thus this series includes "ЕВРО", which is the Bulgarian spelling for EURO, as well as the abbreviation "ЕЦБ". The new banknotes also feature the Maltese abbreviation BĊE, the Hungarian abbreviation EKB and the Polish abbreviation EBC. The modified 5 euro note features the initials of the European Central Bank in each of the contemporary EU member languages in a column on the left-hand side of the obverse. The word "euro" in Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic lettering has also been moved to a more central position.
The full design of the Europa series 5 euro banknote was revealed on 10 January 2013. The new note entered circulation on 2 May 2013. The full design of the Europa series 10 euro note was revealed on 13 January 2014 and it entered circulation on 23 September 2014. The full design of the Europa series 20 euro banknote was revealed on 24 February 2015,
and it was launched on 25 November 2015. The full design of the Europa series 50 euro note was revealed on 5 July 2016 and the new 50 note was released on 4 April 2017. The full design of the Europa series 100 euro banknote and 200 euro banknote was revealed on 17 September 2018 and the new notes entered circulation on 28 May 2019 therefore "will complete the issuance of the Europa series."
On 4 May 2016, the European Central Bank announced that the Europa series 500 euro banknote would not be released, due to fears of "facilitating the criminal activity". "The ECB has decided to stop producing the €500 banknote, although the first series €500 remains legal tender."
The old series will gradually be withdrawn. The ECB will announce "well in advance" when the old notes will lose their legal tender status. However, they will not lose their value and it will be possible to exchange them for new notes at Eurosystem central banks indefinitely.

Security features

"A good design for the blind and partially sighted is a good design for everybody" was the principle behind the cooperation of the European Central Bank and the European Blind Union during the design phase of the first series banknotes in the 1990s. As a result, the design of the first euro banknotes include several characteristics which aid both the blind and partially sighted to confidently use the notes.
Features for the blind and visually impaired include:
As in the design process of the first series of euro notes, visually impaired users were consulted during the design phase of the Europa series, and their requirements were included in the final designs.

Circulation

The European Central Bank closely monitors the circulation and stock of the euro coins and banknotes. It is a task of the Eurosystem to ensure an efficient and smooth supply of euro notes and to maintain their integrity throughout the Eurozone.

Statistics

As of January 2020, there were about 23,353 million banknotes in circulation around the Eurozone. That is about €1.274 trillion worth of banknotes. As of January 2020, there were:
NoteApprox. no. of notes in circulation
Value
Share of total quantity
Share of total value
€51.9239.68.20.8
€102.58825.911.12.0
€203.95179.016.96.2
€5010.981549.047.043.1
€1003.037303.713.023.8
€2000.43286.41.86.8
€5000.441220.31.917.3

Figures since 2012
DateBanknotes
Value
December 2012
December 2013
December 2014
December 2015
December 2016
December 2017
December 2018
December 2019

Counterfeiting

The European Central Bank publishes information on the amount of counterfeit banknotes removed from circulation every 6 months. It reported that 531,000 banknotes were removed from circulation in all of 2012, compared to 606,000 in the previous year. The ECB also said that, when compared to the amount of genuine banknotes, the proportion of fake euro notes remains low. The amount of counterfeits taken out of circulation in 2012 is 3.18 times that of 2002.
In July 2013, the European Central Bank said that it removed 317,000 counterfeit euro banknotes from circulation in the first half of 2013, which is an increase of 26.3% from the first half of 2012. However, the Bundesbank, in July 2013, stated that the amount of counterfeit euro notes fell by 13.6% in Germany in the first half of the year. On the other hand, De Nederlandsche Bank said it withdrew around 19,400 counterfeit banknotes in the same period, which is an increase of 49% in comparison to the first half of 2012. The Central Banks also stated that most were fake €20 and €50 notes.
According to the central bank, the ratio of counterfeited bank notes is about 10 in one million of real bank notes for the Swiss franc, of 50 in one million for the Euro, of 100 in one million for United States dollar and of 300 in one million for Pound sterling.

Legal information

Legally, both the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the Eurozone countries have the right to issue the 7 different euro banknotes. In practice, only the NCBs of the zone physically issue and withdraw euro notes. The European Central Bank does not have a cash office and is not involved in any cash operations. However, the European Central Bank is responsible for overseeing the activities of national central banks in order to harmonise cash services in the Eurozone.

Issuance and printing

The ECB has the exclusive right to authorise the issue of notes within the Eurozone, but most notes are actually issued by the National Central Banks of the Eurozone. As of 2004, 8% of banknotes issues were allocated to the European Central Bank and 92% were allocated to Eurozone NCBs. The issuing central bank can be seen from the serial number. Each NCB is now responsible for the production of certain denominations, as assigned by the ECB.

1st series

Since 2002, euro notes have been printed by the National Central Banks of the Eurozone, with each Central Bank being responsible for and bearing the cost of producing a proportion of the notes. The production of notes needs to be sufficient to meet expected and unexpected surges in demand and to replace unfit notes. Production volumes are forecast jointly by the National Central Banks and the European Central Bank, and it needs to be approved by the Governing Council of the ECB.

Printing works

There is a six-character printing code on every banknote which states the printer of the banknote. These printing codes have an initial letter, followed by three digits, then by a single letter, and ending in a digit, for example, "R001A1".
The initial letter identifies the printing facility. "R" for example would be Bundesdruckerei, a printer in Berlin, Germany. The three digits state sequential printing plates. "001", for example, would be the first printing plate created by the printer. The fifth character, a letter and sixth character, a number, represent the row and column, respectively, of the particular banknote on the particular plate. So "A" would be the first row and "1" would indicate the first column.
Banknotes are printed in sheets. Different printers use different sheet sizes and sheets of higher denominations, which are larger in size, would have fewer notes printed per sheet. For example, two German printers print €5 banknotes in sheets of 60, the sheets of €10 notes have 54 banknotes, and €20 banknotes are printed in sheets of 45 banknotes.
The printer code does not need to be the same as the country code, i.e. notes issued by a particular country may have been printed in another country. The printers used to print euro banknotes include commercial printers as well as national printers, some of which have been privatised, some previously produced national notes before the adoption of the euro. There is one former or current national printer in each of the countries which issue euro notes, with the exception of Germany, where the former East German and West German printers now produce euro notes. France also has two printers, F. C. Oberthur and the printing works of the Bank of France, and two more in the United Kingdom: Thomas De La Rue and the Bank of England printing house, although the latter does not produce euro banknotes.
Unlike euro coins, euro notes do not have a national side indicating which country issued them. The country that issued them is not necessarily where they were printed. The information about the issuing country is encoded within the first character of each note's serial number instead.
The first character of the serial number is a letter which uniquely identifies the country that issues the note. The remaining 11 characters are numbers which, when their digital root is calculated, give a checksum also particular to that country.
The W, K and J codes have been reserved for the three EU member states that did not adopt the euro in 1999, while the R prefix is reserved for Luxembourg, which, at present, does not issue euro banknotes. The first series of uncirculated notes from Luxembourg use the prefix belonging to the country where they were printed.

checksum of the 11 digits without the letter

Denmark, the United Kingdom and Sweden presently do not use the Euro, but had these serial number prefixes reserved for the first series of notes.
Although the Slovenian letter had been reserved since the eurozone enlargement in January 2007, the country initially used previously issued banknotes issued from other member states. The first banknotes bearing the "H" letter, produced in France specifically on behalf of Slovenia, were witnessed no sooner than April 2008. The 'Cypriot banknotes' appeared in circulation in November 2009, whereas, those from Malta appeared 3 months later. Slovak notes first appeared in October 2010.

2nd series

In the new series, there are two codes, like in the first series. They are the printer code in the top right hand corner and the serial number. Part of the serial number is horizontal and part of it is vertical. The serial number begins with a letter indicating the printer, which is broadly similar to the first series. The second letter of the new serial numbers is part of the serial number itself, and has no further significance.
However, as the code indicates the printer, rather than the issuing NCB, certain letters have been reassigned from NCBs which do not maintain their own printing facilities. In the first series, H denoted Slovenia. As there is no Slovene printer of euro banknotes, H represents De La Rue in the second series. Several of the printers which replaced what were NCB codes maintain their printing code from the first series.

Production statistics

The European Central Bank publishes details about euro notes produced every year.
DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€5613.33,066Belgium, Spain, Austria, Portugal.
€10424.64,245Germany.
€20970.919,417Estonia, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€501729.286,457Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania.
€100
€200
€500
TOTAL3,738113,187.50Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€5448.42,241Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€10
€20526.510,530Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Portugal.
€50
€1002,300230,000Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria.
€200715143,000France, Italy, Austria.
€500
TOTAL3,989.90385,771.90Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€53901,948Ireland, Greece.
€10
€2090018,000France, Italy, Portugal.
€503,300164,998Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€10085085,002Germany, Spain, Austria.
€20028456,752Belgium, Germany.
€500
TOTAL5,723326,700Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€5
€101,00010,000Ireland, Greece, Spain, France.
€2050010,000France.
€504,541227,050Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€10017617,640Austria.
€200
€500
TOTAL6,217264,690Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€56003,000Belgium, Spain, Portugal.
€101,20012,000Estonia, Ireland, Greece, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€201,70034,000Germany, France, Italy.
€502,500125,000Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€100
€200
€500
TOTAL6,000171,300Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€58254,125Belgium, Greece, Spain, Ireland.
€1094940Greece.
€203,99479,880Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal.
€502,800140,000Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Malta, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€10050050,000Germany.
€200479,400Germany.
€5008542,500Austria.
TOTAL8,345326,845Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€5
€104,50045,000Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€202,50050,000Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, France, Italy, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€501,00050,000Belgium, Germany, Spain.
€100
€200
€500
TOTAL8,000145,000Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€52,915.3014,576.52Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria.
€101,959.0419,590.45Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, Portugal.
€201,703.9534,079.03Cyprus, Estonia, France, Italy, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€501,530.4376,521.70Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy.
€100298.1329,813.20Germany.
€20050.0010,000.04Germany.
€500
TOTAL8,456.87184,580.95Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

DenominationQuantity Value NCBs commissioning production
€51,714.808,574.00Germany, Cyprus, Spain, France, Ireland, Malta Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€101,541.2015,412.00Germany, Greece, France, Austria, Portugal.
€20536.6010,732.00Cyprus, France, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.
€502,169.10108,455.00Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy.
€100
€200
€50056.2028,100.00Austria.
TOTAL6,017.90171,273.00Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland.

Tracking

There are several communities of people at European level, an example of which is EuroBillTracker, that as a hobby keep track of the euro notes that pass through their hands to keep track and know where they travel or have travelled. The aim is to record as many notes as possible in order to know details about their spread, from where and to where they travel in general and follow it up, like where a specific note has been seen in particular and generate statistics and rankings, for example, in which countries there are more notes. EuroBillTracker has registered over 174.96 million notes as of 3 March 2018, worth more than €3.23 billion.

€1 and €2 notes

The ECB has stated that "printing a €1 note is more expensive than minting a €1 coin". On 18 November 2004 the ECB decided definitively that there was insufficient demand across the Eurozone for very-low-denomination banknotes. On 25 October 2005, however, more than half of MEPs supported a motion calling on the European Commission and the European Central Bank to recognise the definite need for the introduction of €1 and €2 banknotes. However, the European Central Bank is not directly answerable to the Parliament or the Commission, and has ignored the motion.