Euro Counterfeits Go into Reverse

444,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2025, according to the European Central Bank. This is a decrease of more than 20% compared with 2024, and a reversal of the trend which had seen numbers climb since 2021. In terms of the counterfeiting ratio, for 2025 it was 14 ppm, compared with 18 ppm the previous year.

As in previous years, the €20 and €50 accounted for the majority of counterfeits – 27% and 53.2% respectively. The combined total of 80% was slightly higher than 2024’s 79%. 96.8% of the counterfeits were found in euro area countries, while 2.2% were found in non-euro area EU member states and just 1.0% in other parts of the world.

Some, but not all, National Central Banks (NCBs) have also published the counterfeiting rates specific to their countries, which vary considerably. Between them, the 7 out of the 21 eurozone NCBs that have reported account for almost 107,000 counterfeits, or merely 24% of the total.