The euro is the legal tender for more than 300 million people in 13 EU countries. The symbol for the euro is €.

The euro notes are identical in all countries but each country issues its own coins with one common side and one side displaying a distinctive national emblem. All the notes and coins can be used anywhere in the euro area.

The euro is also used in Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City (which have their own euro coins) Andorra and in Kosovo and Montenegro in the western Balkans as well as in the Azores, the Canaries, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which are all part of EU countries using the euro.

Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom do not currently use the euro. Slovenia joined the euro area in October 2007 and the 11 other member states that have entered the EU since 2004 are committed to adopting the euro when they are ready.