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The euro (currency sign: €; banking code: EUR) is the official currency of the Eurozone. It is the single currency for more than 317 million Europeans. Including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, the euro affects more than 480 million people worldwide. With more than €610 billion in circulation as of December 2006 (equivalent to US$800 billion at the exchange rates at the time), the euro has surpassed the U.S. dollar in terms of combined value of cash in circulation. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency in 1999 and launched as physical coins and banknotes in 2002. It replaced the former ECU at a ratio of 1:1.

While all EU member states are eligible to join if they comply with certain monetary requirements, the euro is not used in all of the European Union as not all EU members have adopted the currency. All nations which have recently joined the EU are pledged to adopt the euro in due course, but the United Kingdom and Denmark are under no such obligation. Several small European states (The Vatican, Monaco and San Marino), although not EU members, have adopted the euro due to currency unions with member states. Andorra, Montenegro and Kosovo have adopted the euro unilaterally.