The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union and is the official currency of the eurozone, which consists of 18 of the 28 member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
The currency is also used in a further five European countries and consequently used daily by some 334 million Europeans as of 2013. Additionally, 210 million people worldwide as of 2013—including 182 million people in Africa—use currencies pegged to the euro.
