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Euro area
Desc-i.svg
Policy of European Union
Type Monetary union
Currency Euro
Established 1 January 1999
Members
Governance
Monetary authority Eurosystem
Political oversight Eurogroup
Statistics
Area 2,801,552 km2 (1,081,685 sq mi)
Population 349,256,040 (January 2023)
Density 125/km2 (323.7/sq mi)
GDP (nominal) €13.4 trillion
€38,470 (per capita) (2022)
Interest rate 3.50%
Inflation 5.5% (June 2023)
Unemployment 6.5% (April 2023)
Trade balance €310 billion trade surplus


The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 20 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro () as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies.

The 20 eurozone members are:

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

The seven non-eurozone members of the EU are Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Czech republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. They continue to use their own national currencies, although all but Denmark are obliged to join once they meet the euro convergence criteria. Among non-EU member states, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins.

In addition, Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro unilaterally. These six countries, however, have no representation in any eurozone institution.

The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the eurozone, the Eurogroup is an informal body of finance ministers that makes fiscal policy for the currency union, and the European System of Central Banks is responsible for fiscal and monetary cooperation between eurozone and non-eurozone EU members. The European Central Bank (ECB) makes monetary policy for the eurozone, sets its base interest rate, and issues euro banknotes and coins.

Since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting emergency loans to member states in return for enacting economic reforms. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration; for example, in peer review of each other's national budgets. The issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone change. No eurozone member state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled.

Territory

Eurozone

In 1998, eleven member states of the European Union had met the euro convergence criteria, and the eurozone came into existence with the official launch of the euro (alongside national currencies) on 1 January 1999 in those countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Greece qualified in 2000 and was admitted on 1 January 2001.

These twelve founding members introduced physical euro banknotes and euro coins on 1 January 2002. After a short transition period, they took out of circulation and rendered invalid their pre-euro national coins and notes.

Between 2007 and 2023, eight new states have acceded: Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

state ISO code adopted on 1 January of population in 2021 nominal GNI in 2021 in millions of USD nominal GNI as fraction of eurozone total nominal GNI per capita in 2021 in USD pre-euro currency conversion rate of euro to pre-euro currency pre-euro currency was also used in territories where euro is not used
 Austria AT 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".8,932,664 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".472,474 3.27% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".52,893 schilling 13.7603
 Belgium BE 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".11,554,767 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".585,375 4.05% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".50,661 franc 40.3399 Luxembourg
 Croatia HR 2023 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".4,036,355 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".68,724 0.48% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".17,026 kuna 7.53450
 Cyprus CY 2008 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".896,007 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".25,634 0.18% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".28,609 pound 0.585274 Northern Cyprus
 Estonia EE 2011 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".1,330,068 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".35,219 0.24% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".26,479 kroon 15.6466
 Finland FI 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".5,533,793 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".296,473 2.05% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".53,575 markka 5.94573
 France FR 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".67,656,682 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".2,991,553 20.69% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".44,217 franc 6.55957 Andorra
Monaco
New Caledonia
French Polynesia
Wallis and Futuna
 Germany DE 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".83,155,031 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".4,298,325 29.72% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".51,690 Mark 1.95583 Kosovo
Montenegro
 Greece GR 2001 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".10,678,632 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".212,807 1.47% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".19,928 drachma 340.750
 Ireland IE 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".5,006,324 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".383,084 2.65% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".76,520 pound 0.787564
 Italy IT 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".59,236,213 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".2,127,119 14.71% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".35,909 lira 1936.27 San Marino
Vatican City
 Latvia LV 2014 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".1,893,223 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".37,295 0.26% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".19,699 lats 0.702804
 Lithuania LT 2015 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".2,795,680 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".60,884 0.42% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".21,778 litas 3.45280
 Luxembourg LU 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".634,730 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".56,449 0.39% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".88,934 franc 40.3399 Belgium
 Malta MT 2008 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".516,100 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".15,948 0.11% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".30,901 lira 0.429300
 Netherlands NL 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".17,475,415 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".967,837 6.69% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".55,383 guilder 2.20371 Aruba
Curaçao
Sint Maarten
Caribbean Netherlands
 Portugal PT 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".10,298,252 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".246,714 1.71% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".23,957 escudo 200.482
 Slovakia SK 2009 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".5,459,781 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".112,424 0.78% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".20,591 koruna 30.1260
 Slovenia SI 2007 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".2,108,977 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".59,608 0.41% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".28,264 tolar 239.640
 Spain ES 1999 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".47,398,695 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".1,407,936 9.74% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".29,704 peseta 166.386 Andorra
eurozone EZ N/A 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".346,597,389 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".14,461,883 100.00% 0Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ","..Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".41,725 N/A N/A N/A see above

Dependent territories of EU member states not part of the EU

Three of the dependent territories of EU member states not part of the EU have adopted the euro:

  • Territorial collectivity of Saint Barthélemy (French territory, with France ensuring eurozone laws are implemented)
  • Overseas Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (French territory, with France ensuring eurozone laws are implemented)
  • French Southern and Antarctic Lands (French territory, with France ensuring eurozone laws are implemented)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Eurozona para niños

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