 Euro banknotesThe euro (€, EUR) is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans, and, including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, it directly affects about 500 million people worldwide.
According to Financial Times, the euro is the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world, with more than €610 billion in circulation as of December 2006, having surpassed the U.S. dollar.
The euro is the official currency of the European Union (EU), and currently it is used in 15 member states known collectively as the Eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain).
Taking official estimates of 2007 GDP (as published in CIA's World Factbook), in March 2008 the Eurozone become the largest economy in the world (overtaking the U.S. on account of the €/$ exchange rate).
 Euro coinsThe euro is also used in five non-EU countries with formal agreements (Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Mayotte) and a number of other countries and territories without such agreements (Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Andorra, Montenegro, Kosovo and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia).
The euro was introduced in 1999 as an accounting currency. Physical coins and banknotes were launched on 1 January 2002. It replaced the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1.
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