<P> The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans as of 2015 . Outside Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency . Additionally, 210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro . </P> <P> The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar . As of January 2017, with more than € 1.1 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar . </P> <P> The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid . The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1: 1 (US $1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day - to - day operating currency of its original members, and by May 2002 had completely replaced the former currencies . While the euro dropped subsequently to US $0.83 within two years (26 October 2000), it has traded above the U.S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US $1.60 on 18 July 2008 . Since late 2009, the euro has been immersed in the European sovereign - debt crisis which has led to the creation of the European Financial Stability Facility as well as other reforms aimed at stabilising the currency . In July 2012, the euro fell below US $1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spain's troubled banking sector . As of April 2018, the euro--dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US $1.23 . </P> <P> The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt - based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the eurozone countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy . The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the eurozone payment systems . </P>

When was the euro introduced as legal currency in the world market