Formerly known as Money Matters, this article is a continuation of the periodic series utilising information drawn from DataVault, the powerful online database which enables users to search, sort and aggregate data on all of the world’s banknotes and circulating coins.
This month we have issued the Banknote and Coin Update 2025 report, which covers circulating notes and coins issued during 2025. Whilst other notes and coins were unveiled during the year, they have only been included if they have actually been put into circulation.
By this measure, 38 countries issued new notes or coins in 2025, of which 33 issued one or more new banknotes – 79 in total.
Of those banknotes, 43 were new series introduced by 13 central banks and note issuing authorities. 19 were upgrades by 11 issuers (as in one or more features were changed or added, albeit the design remained the same) and seven were on new substrates, switching from paper to polymer. In three countries and economic areas the new series also involved a change of substrate from paper to polymer – including the Falkland Islands, Turkmenistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition, two of the banknote issues last year were new high denominations for Sudan and Turkmenistan.
On the coin side, eight countries or economic areas issued new coins. This includes new series for the Central African States (nine coins), Curaçao and Sint Maarten (twelve), Zambia (four), and Namibia (five). Four countries issued redesigned coins, including the United Kingdom (one), Solomon Islands (one), Denmark (five), and Monaco (two).
The information on each new note and coin in the report is an abbreviation on the information provided in DataVault itself, more information on which can be found at datavault.reconnaissance.net.
The Banknote and Coin Update 2025 report, meanwhile, can be downloaded here.
