The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of the Eurozone: 17 of the 27 Member States of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the EU institutions.
The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the U.S. dollar.
The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995. The Euro coins and banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002.
The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the eurozone countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy.
The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU Member States to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary requirements, although not all states have done so. The United Kingdom and Denmark negotiated exemptions, while Sweden turned down the euro in a 2003 referendum, and has circumvented the obligation to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements. All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course.
The euro is the sole currency of 17 EU Member States. These countries comprise the "eurozone", some 326 million people in total. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. The currency is also used in a further 5 European countries (Montenegro, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican) with and without formal agreements and is consequently used daily by some 327 million Europeans. Additionally, over 175 million people worldwide use currencies which are pegged to the euro, including more than 150 million people in Africa.