Focus
Official currencies are now a near-universal institution, and most jurisdictions have a single currency of their own. The path to this arrangement was not smooth. Since the mid-19th century, currencies have been created and abandoned through independence, war, inflation and monetary reform. Yet there is no systematic record of this process across all jurisdictions. Such a record is useful at a time when cryptoassets and stablecoins are reopening debates about the nature of money.
Contribution
We build a new global database of government-issued currencies over 1850–2026. It covers 568 currencies across six continents, including colonial, territorial and wartime currencies. For each currency, we record the issuing authority, the jurisdiction and the dates of issuance and discontinuation. We also code the reasons for both, using a common seven-category scheme. To our knowledge, this is the first database to record why each currency was introduced and why it ended. We make it publicly available as a resource for research on money and economic history.
Findings
The number of currencies in circulation rose from about 67 in 1850 to a peak of 192 in 1994, after the break-up of the Soviet Union. It has since fallen to 163, mainly because the euro replaced various currencies. Turnover has been high: around 70% of all currencies in the database have been discontinued. The median currency lasts 33 years, and nearly a quarter lasted less than a decade. Currencies are most often born for political reasons, with independence the most common cause (28% of cases). They most often end for economic reasons: name or unit changes and inflation together account for 55% of discontinuations. A small number of jurisdictions have cycled through many currencies as successive stabilisation attempts failed.
Abstract
Over the past two centuries, officially issued currencies have become firmly en trenched as a nearly universal institution in economies around the world. But the path to this arrangement has not been smooth: currencies have come and gone, in line with political changes, periods of hyperinflation or currency reforms and, in some cases, entry into currency unions. With a new global database of historical currencies over 1850–2026, we document 568 currencies, of which 163 are still in use today. The median lifespan of a currency is 33 years, though there is substantial variation: from several currencies that lasted less than a year, to others that have circulated for several centuries. The most common reason for issuing a new currency is the independence of a jurisdiction (28% of cases); the most common reason for discontinuing one is a name or unit change (35%). Currencies are thus often born for political reasons, but they often die for economic ones. The database sheds light on these changes. It is meant as a resource for researchers working on money and economic history.
