Some 445,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in the second half of last year, two per cent less than in the first half of the year, the European Central Bank said today.
It said in a statement the number of counterfeits remains very low in comparison with the increasing number of genuine banknotes in circulation (over 18 billion during the second half of last year).
The half-yearly trend is shown below:
|
Period |
2012/2 |
2013/1 |
2013/2 |
2014/1 |
2014/2 |
2015/1 |
2015/2 |
|
Number of counterfeits |
280,000 |
317,000 |
353,000 |
331,000 |
507,000 |
454,000 |
445,000 |
Following is a breakdown, by denomination, of the total number of counterfeits withdrawn from circulation in the second half of last year.
|
Denomination |
€5 |
€10 |
€20 |
€50 |
€100 |
€200 |
€500 |
|
Percentage breakdown |
1.1% |
3.0% |
46.2% |
37.1% |
10.1% |
1.2% |
1.3% |
During the period the €20 and €50 notes continued to be the most counterfeited banknotes. Compared with the figures for the first half of 2015, the proportion of counterfeit €20 notes decreased and that of counterfeit €50 notes increased. Together, they accounted for 83.3 per cent of the counterfeits.
Most (98 per cent) of the counterfeits were found in euro area countries. Only around 1.3 per cent were found in EU states outside the euro area and less than 0.7 per cent were found in other parts of the world.