The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union and is the official currency of the euro zone,
which consists of 17 of the 28 member states of the European Union :
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 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 332 million Europeans.
Additionally, more than 175 million people worldwide—including 150 million people in Africa—use currencies pegged to the euro.