The euro banknotes, the common currency of the eurozone, have been in circulation since the first series (also called ES1) was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. The euro was established in 1999, but "for the first three years it was an invisible currency, used for accounting purposes only, e.g. in electronic payments". 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 have a variety of color schemes and measure from to (first series) and from to (second series). 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 (although not necessarily of minting), 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 July 2023, there were about 29.624 billion banknotes in circulation around the eurozone, with a total value of about €1.569 trillion. On 8 November 2012, the ECB announced that the first series of notes would be replaced by the Europa series (also called ES2), starting with the 5 euro note. This series does not have a €500 note, as the ECB have decided to permanently cease its production over concerns that it could facilitate illicit activities.
Estimates suggest that the average life of a euro banknote is about three years before replacement due to wear, but with a wide variation by denomination level, from less than a year for €5 banknotes to over 30 years for €500 banknotes, on average. High denomination banknotes (€100, €200, €500) typically last longer as they are less frequently used. The Europa series lower denomination €5 and €10 banknotes are designed to last longer, thanks 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 (EU) 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 (though Denmark has a policy of a fixed exchange rate with the euro).
Though the currency was born virtually in 1999, notes and coins did not begin to circulate until 2002. The euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the growing EU. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty formalised the euro's political authority, the Eurogroup, alongside the European Central Bank.
Slovenia joined the eurozone on 1 January 2007, Cyprus and Malta on 1 January 2008, Slovakia on 1 January 2009, Estonia on 1 January 2011, Latvia on 1 January 2014, Lithuania on 1 January 2015, Croatia on 1 January 2023 and Bulgaria on 1 January 2026.
Specification There are seven different denominations of euro banknotes: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200, and €500. Each has a distinctive colour and size, and displays examples of a historical European architectural style: windows or gateways on the obverse, and bridges on the reverse. The architectural examples featured are stylised illustrations of the corresponding style, rather than representations of existing structures.
The euro banknotes are made of pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel.
First series The following table depicts the design characteristics of the 1st series (ES1) of euro notes.
Image Value Year Dimensions(millimetres) Main colour Design printing code position Issue Issue suspended Replacement Status Obverse Reverse Architecture Century €5 2002 120 × 62 mm Grey Classical 8th BC–4th AD Left image edge 1 January 2002 10 January 2013 2 May 2013 Current €10 127 × 67 mm Red Romanesque 11–12th 8 o'clock star 13 January 2014 23 September 2014 €20 133 × 72 mm Blue Gothic 13–14th 9 o'clock star 24 February 2015 25 November 2015 €50 140 × 77 mm Orange Renaissance 15–16th Right image edge 5 July 2016 4 April 2017 €100 147 × 82 mm Green Baroque and Rococo 17–18th Right of 9 o'clock star17 September 201828 May 2019 €200 153 × 82 mm Yellow Art Nouveau 19th Above 7 o'clock star €500 160 × 82 mm Purple Modern architecture (20th century) 20th 9 o'clock star 1 January 2019 Last of denomination Limited
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 (EURO / ΕΥΡΩ) 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 (the time of the banknote introduction), and now 19 out of 24 official languages of the EU27, in the following order:
BCE (, , , , ) ECB (, , , ) EZB () () EKP () 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 and Austria (, ), Greece (, ) and Finland (), in that order.
The initial designs for the banknotes were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by the Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected on 3 December 1996.
In the first and Europa series, the Azores, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, alba, Réunion, and the Canary Islands, overseas territories of the eurozone member states, which also use the euro, were 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. Both Cyprus and Malta are however depicted on the Europa series note.
Second series The following table depicts the design characteristics of the second series of euro banknotes (ES2), also known as the Europa series, after the holographic depiction of the mythological Europa common to these banknotes.
Image Value Year Dimensions(millimetres) Main colour Design printing code position Issue Status Obverse Reverse Architecture Century €5 2013 120 × 62 mm Grey Classical 8th BC–4th AD Top right 2 May 2013Current €10 2014 127 × 67 mm Red Romanesque 11–12th 23 September 2014 €20 2015 133 × 72 mm Blue Gothic 13–14th 25 November 2015 €50 2017 140 × 77 mm Orange Renaissance 15–16th 4 April 2017 €100 2019 147 × 77 mm Green Baroque & Rococo 17–18th28 May 2019 €200 153 × 77 mm Yellow Art Nouveau 19th
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, president of the ECB from 1 November 2011 to 31 October 2019. 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 series also bears the name of the currency in capital letters, but in three scripts: Latin (EURO), 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 (77 mm) 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 European Union, in the following order: BCE (, , , , , ) ECB (, , , , , , , , ) () EZB () EKP (, ) () ESB () EKB () BĊE () EBC () 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 (България/Bulgaria) precedes that of Germany (Deutschland); EKP now precedes ΕΚΤ due to the accession of Estonia (Eesti); and the languages of Croatia (Hrvatska), Hungary (Magyarország), Malta and Poland (Polska) 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.
Reinhold Gerstetter, an independent banknote designer (and one of participants of the 1996 design contest), was chosen by the European Central Bank to redesign the euro notes.
The Europa series euro banknotes are supposedly more durable than the first series banknotes.
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 stylized 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.Kristen Allen, "Euro Bridges: An Uncommon Monument to the Common Currency", Spiegel Online, 4 November 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2014.Benjamin Starr, "", Visual News, 17 December 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2015.Those fantasy bridges on euro notes? They're real, now, and all in one place Coin World (www.coinworld.com). 24 July 2017. Retrieved on 25 July 2017.Euro Banknote Bridges Atlas Obscura (www.atlasobscura.com). Retrieved on 25 June 2018.
Signature
The euro banknotes bear the signature of the President of the European Central Bank.
Wim Duisenberg was the first ECB president when the first euro banknotes and coins were issued until 2003. Notes printed between November 2003 and March 2012 show the signature of Jean-Claude Trichet, the second President of the ECB. Banknotes printed after March 2012 bear the signature of the third ECB President Mario Draghi.
From 2020, Christine Lagarde's signature would gradually begin to appear on banknotes entering circulation, becoming the fourth signature to appear on euro banknotes.
As a curiosity, the five euro banknotes of the first series did not bear the signature of Mario Draghi, despite the fact that his mandate began on 1 November 2011 and the design of the five euro banknotes of the second series is from January 2013.
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: