Every country in the world has a currency that is specific to the country.  There are more than 185 different currencies in the world. However, according to the United Nations, only 180 of these currencies are internationally recognized. What are the Main Currencies of the World? What are the Tricks to Remember Currencies of the World? Origin of the names of the currencies? List of all the currencies of the world with their ISO codes?

What is Currency?

How can we create a standard of value that is generally acceptable? In the quest to find an answer to this question. Humans invented currencies. Investopedia defined currency as a “generally accepted form of money, including coins and paper notes, which is issued by a government and circulated within an economy. Used as a medium of exchange for goods and services, currency is the basis for trade.”

Every country in the world has a currency that is specific to the country. A currency has a name, a symbol, fractional unit it can be divided into (For example, Rupees into Paisa, Dollar into Cents) and ISO code (Ex: USD, INR).

There are more than 185 different currencies in the world. However, according to the United Nations, only 180 of these currencies are internationally recognized. The image below shows the currencies of the world.

ISO Currency Code

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) provides standards for businesses, governments, and societies. For currencies, the governing document is called ISO 4217:2015.

Currencies can be represented in the code in two ways: a three-letter alphabetic code and a three-digit numeric code. Periodically, amendments must be made to ISO 4217:2015 and these are managed by the Secretariat of the Maintenance Agency, in this case, the SIX Interbank Clearing Ltd on behalf of the Swiss Association for Standardization, SNV.

ISO 4217 is the International Standard for currency codes are three-letter alphabetic codes that represent the currency used. The first two letters of the ISO 4217 three-letter code are the same as the code for the country name, and where possible the third letter corresponds to the first letter of the currency name.

For example:

• The US dollar is represented as USD – the US coming from the ISO 3166 country code and the D for a dollar.
• The Swiss franc is represented by CHF – the CH being the code for Switzerland in the ISO 3166 code and F for a franc.

There is also a three-digit code number assigned to each currency. This numeric code is usually the same as the ISO 3166-1 numeric code. For example, USD (United States dollar) has code 840 which is also the numeric code for the US (United States).

The ISO 4217 standard includes a mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the currency “exponent” and assumes a base of 10.

For example, USD (the United States dollar) is equal to 100 of its minor currency unit the “cent”. So the USD has exponent 2 (10 to the power 2 is 100, which is the number of cents in a dollar).

The code JPY (Japanese yen) is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used.

Main Currencies of the World

Tricks to remember the name of currencies of the world

Remembering all currencies of all countries in every continent of the world is virtually impossible. The truth is, remembering it all at once will need a great deal of commitment. But there are some tricks.

Trick to remember Countries with Rupee as Currency

SSPIN-M: Rupee is the official currency of some countries. To easily remember all countries spending Rupee.

• Seychelles: Seychellois rupee
• Srilanka: Sri Lankan Rupee
• Pakistan:  Pakistani Rupee
• India: Indian Rupee
• Nepal: Nepalese Rupee
• Mauritius: Mauritian rupee

Indonesia: Indonesian Rupiah

SISter IN MP saves Rupee (Rupiah)

• Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Rupee
• Indonesia Indonesian Rupiah
• Seychelles Seychellois rupee
• India Indian Rupee
• Nepal Nepalese Rupee
• Mauritius Mauritian rupee
• Pakistan Pakistani Rupe

I M MISS PN

PM MISSIN

Trick to remember Countries with Dollar as Currency

Several countries of the world spend the Dollar ($) currency. How can we easily memorize these countries? This time, you need to master a key sentence CAN U SING TANETH

• CAN is for Canada
• U is for the United States of America
• SING is for Singapore
• T is for Taiwan
• A is for Australia
• N is for NewZealand
• E is for Ecuador
• T is for Trinidad and Tobago
• H is for Hongkong.

Trick to remember Countries with Rial/Riyal as Currency

BOYS have Real (Riyal/Rial) IQ

• Brazil Real
• Oman Rial
• Yemen Rial
• Saudi Arabia Riyal
• Iran Rial
• Qatar Riyal

Trick to remember Countries with Dinar as Currency

BJP & I AM in Dinar (Denar) LiST in uK

• Bahrain: Bahraini Dinar
• Jordan:  Jordanian Dinar
• Palestine:  Jordanian Dinar
• Iraq: Iraqi Dinar
• Algeria: Algerian Dinar
• Macedonia: Macedonian Denar
• Libya: Libyan Dinar
• Serbia: Serbian Dinar
• Tunisia: Tunisian Dinar
• Kuwait: Kuwaiti Dinar

Trick to remember Countries with Pound as Currency

Pound is USeLESS for Helena

• UK: Pound sterling
• Sudan: Sudanese pound
• Lebanon: Lebanese pound
• Egypt: Egyptian pound
• Syria: Syrian pound
• Helena: Pound

Trick to remember Countries with Shilling as Currency

TUSK cost of 100 Shillings

• Tanzania: Tanzanian shilling
• Uganda: Ugandan shilling
• Somalia: Somali shilling
• Kenya: Kenyan shilling

Trick to remember Countries with Peso as Currency

MAC Count CPU for Peso

• Mexico: Mexican peso
• Argentina: Argentine peso
• Chile: Chilean peso
• Columbia: Colombian peso
• Cuba: Cuban Peso
• Philippines: Philippine Peso
• Uruguay: Uruguayan peso

Trick to remember Countries with CFA Franc as Currency

BBC Calls CM to Set Tower in France

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Mali
• Senegal
• Togo

Trick to remember Countries with Krone as Currency

MARK on his WAY to receive Crown (Krone)

• Denmark Danish krone
• Norway Norwegian krone

Trick to remember Countries with Won as Currency

Korea’s Won in the Battle

• South Korea South Korean Won
• North Korea North Korean Won

Etymology of Names of Currencies

The origin of the name of the currencies is given below. Origins of World Currency Names has details about origin of names of more currencies

• Dollar comes from 16th century German: “Thaler” a short form of Joahimsthaler, coin made from metal mined in Joahimsthal, a town now in Czech Republic
• Dinar is derived from Latin: “Denarius” – Silver Money
• Afghani derived from country name: “that belongs to or that is from Afghanistan”
• Dirham Morocco, UAE Arabic: Dirham is derived from the Old Greek word “Drakhme” which came to Latin as “Drachma” meaning “a handful”
• Euro European Union derived from Europe. This name was the winning choice in a contest in 1996
• Krone Scandinavian currencies Latin: Corona – “Crown”
• Peso Many Spanish speaking countries Spanish: “Weight”
• Rupee India, Pakistan, Nepal and others from Sanskrit word “Rupya” – Silver
• Yuan China Chinese or Yuan: literally “a round object”

Table of Currencies of the World

The following is a list of active codes of official ISO 4217 currency names. In the standard, the values are called “alphabetic code”, “numeric code”, and “minor unit”.

ISO Code	Num	E	Currency	Locations using this currency
AED	784	2	United Arab Emirates dirham	United Arab Emirates
AFN	971	2	Afghan afghani	Afghanistan
ALL	008	2	Albanian lek	Albania
AMD	051	2	Armenian dram	Armenia
ANG	532	2	Netherlands Antillean guilder	Curaçao (CW),  Sint Maarten (SX)
AOA	973	2	Angolan kwanza	Angola
ARS	032	2	Argentine peso	Argentina
AUD	036	2	Australian dollar	Australia,  Christmas Island (CX),  Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CC),  Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HM),  Kiribati (KI),  Nauru (NR),  Norfolk Island (NF),  Tuvalu (TV)
AWG	533	2	Aruban florin	Aruba
AZN	944	2	Azerbaijani manat	Azerbaijan
BAM	977	2	Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark	Bosnia and Herzegovina
BBD	052	2	Barbados dollar	Barbados
BDT	050	2	Bangladeshi taka	Bangladesh
BGN	975	2	Bulgarian lev	Bulgaria
BHD	048	3	Bahraini dinar	Bahrain
BIF	108	0	Burundian franc	Burundi
BMD	060	2	Bermudian dollar	Bermuda
BND	096	2	Brunei dollar	Brunei
BOB	068	2	Boliviano	Bolivia
BOV	984	2	Bolivian Mvdol (funds code)	Bolivia
BRL	986	2	Brazilian real	Brazil
BSD	044	2	Bahamian dollar	Bahamas
BTN	064	2	Bhutanese ngultrum	Bhutan
BWP	072	2	Botswana pula	Botswana
BYN	933	2	Belarusian ruble	Belarus
BZD	084	2	Belize dollar	Belize
CAD	124	2	Canadian dollar	Canada
CDF	976	2	Congolese franc	Democratic Republic of the Congo
CHE	947	2	WIR Euro (complementary currency)	Switzerland
CHF	756	2	Swiss franc	Switzerland,  Liechtenstein (LI)
CHW	948	2	WIR Franc (complementary currency)	Switzerland
CLF	990	4	Unidad de Fomento (funds code)	Chile
CLP	152	0	Chilean peso	Chile
CNY	156	2	Renminbi (Chinese) yuan	China
COP	170	2	Colombian peso	Colombia
COU	970	2	Unidad de Valor Real (UVR) (funds code)	Colombia
CRC	188	2	Costa Rican colon	Costa Rica
CUC	931	2	Cuban convertible peso	Cuba
CUP	192	2	Cuban peso	Cuba
CVE	132	0	Cape Verde escudo	Cabo Verde
CZK	203	2	Czech koruna	Czechia [10]
DJF	262	0	Djiboutian franc	Djibouti
DKK	208	2	Danish krone	Denmark,  Faroe Islands (FO),  Greenland (GL)
DOP	214	2	Dominican peso	Dominican Republic
DZD	012	2	Algerian dinar	Algeria
EGP	818	2	Egyptian pound	Egypt
ERN	232	2	Eritrean nakfa	Eritrea
ETB	230	2	Ethiopian birr	Ethiopia
EUR	978	2	Euro	European Union (EU),  Andorra (AD),  Austria (AT),  Belgium (BE),  Cyprus (CY),  Estonia (EE),  Finland(FI),  France (FR),  Germany (DE),  Greece (GR), Guadeloupe (GP),  Ireland (IE),  Italy (IT),  Kosovo,  Latvia (LV),  Lithuania (LT),  Luxembourg (LU),  Malta (MT),  French Guiana (GF),  Martinique (MQ),  Mayotte (YT),  Monaco (MC),  Montenegro (ME),  Netherlands (NL),  Portugal (PT),  Réunion (RE),  Saint Barthélemy (BL),  Saint Pierre and Miquelon (PM),  San Marino (SM),  Slovakia (SK),  Slovenia (SI),  Spain (ES)
FJD	242	2	Fiji dollar	Fiji
FKP	238	2	Falkland Islands pound	Falkland Islands (pegged to GBP 1:1)
GBP	826	2	Pound sterling	United Kingdom,  British Indian Ocean Territory (IO) (also uses USD), the  Isle of Man (IM, see Manx pound),  Jersey(JE, see Jersey pound), and  Guernsey (GG, see Guernsey pound)
GEL	981	2	Georgian lari	Georgia
GHS	936	2	Ghanaian cedi	Ghana
GIP	292	2	Gibraltar pound	Gibraltar (pegged to GBP 1:1)
GMD	270	2	Gambian dalasi	Gambia
GNF	324	0	Guinean franc	Guinea
GTQ	320	2	Guatemalan quetzal	Guatemala
GYD	328	2	Guyanese dollar	Guyana
HKD	344	2	Hong Kong dollar	Hong Kong
HNL	340	2	Honduran lempira	Honduras
HRK	191	2	Croatian kuna	Croatia
HTG	332	2	Haitian gourde	Haiti
HUF	348	2	Hungarian forint	Hungary
IDR	360	2	Indonesian rupiah	Indonesia
ILS	376	2	Israeli new shekel	Israel,  Palestinian Authority
INR	356	2	Indian rupee	India,  Bhutan
IQD	368	3	Iraqi dinar	Iraq
IRR	364	2	Iranian rial	Iran
ISK	352	0	Icelandic króna	Iceland
JMD	388	2	Jamaican dollar	Jamaica
JOD	400	3	Jordanian dinar	Jordan
JPY	392	0	Japanese yen	Japan
KES	404	2	Kenyan shilling	Kenya
KGS	417	2	Kyrgyzstani som	Kyrgyzstan
KHR	116	2	Cambodian riel	Cambodia
KMF	174	0	Comoro franc	Comoros
KPW	408	2	North Korean won	North Korea
KRW	410	0	South Korean won	South Korea
KWD	414	3	Kuwaiti dinar	Kuwait
KYD	136	2	Cayman Islands dollar	Cayman Islands
KZT	398	2	Kazakhstani tenge	Kazakhstan
LAK	418	2	Lao kip	Laos
LBP	422	2	Lebanese pound	Lebanon
LKR	144	2	Sri Lankan rupee	Sri Lanka
LRD	430	2	Liberian dollar	Liberia
LSL	426	2	Lesotho loti	Lesotho
LYD	434	3	Libyan dinar	Libya
MAD	504	2	Moroccan dirham	Morocco
MDL	498	2	Moldovan leu	Moldova
MGA	969	1*[12]	Malagasy ariary	Madagascar
MKD	807	2	Macedonian denar	Macedonia
MMK	104	2	Myanmar kyat	Myanmar
MNT	496	2	Mongolian tögrög	Mongolia
MOP	446	2	Macanese pataca	Macau
MRU[13]	929	1*[12]	Mauritanian ouguiya	Mauritania
MUR	480	2	Mauritian rupee	Mauritius
MVR	462	2	Maldivian rufiyaa	Maldives
MWK	454	2	Malawian kwacha	Malawi
MXN	484	2	Mexican peso	Mexico
MXV	979	2	Mexican Unidad de Inversion (UDI) (funds code)	Mexico
MYR	458	2	Malaysian ringgit	Malaysia
MZN	943	2	Mozambican metical	Mozambique
NAD	516	2	Namibian dollar	Namibia
NGN	566	2	Nigerian naira	Nigeria
NIO	558	2	Nicaraguan córdoba	Nicaragua
NOK	578	2	Norwegian krone	Norway,  Svalbard and  Jan Mayen (SJ),  Bouvet Island (BV)
NPR	524	2	Nepalese rupee	Nepal
NZD	554	2	New Zealand dollar	New Zealand,  Cook Islands (CK),  Niue (NU),  Pitcairn Islands,  Tokelau(TK)
OMR	512	3	Omani rial	Oman
PAB	590	2	Panamanian balboa	Panama
PEN	604	2	Peruvian sol	Peru
PGK	598	2	Papua New Guinean kina	Papua New Guinea
PHP	608	2	Philippine peso	Philippines
PKR	586	2	Pakistani rupee	Pakistan
PLN	985	2	Polish złoty	Poland
PYG	600	0	Paraguayan guaraní	Paraguay
QAR	634	2	Qatari riyal	Qatar
RON	946	2	Romanian leu	Romania
RSD	941	2	Serbian dinar	Serbia
RUB	643	2	Russian ruble	Russia
RWF	646	0	Rwandan franc	Rwanda
SAR	682	2	Saudi riyal	Saudi Arabia
SBD	090	2	Solomon Islands dollar	Solomon Islands
SCR	690	2	Seychelles rupee	Seychelles
SDG	938	2	Sudanese pound	Sudan
SEK	752	2	Swedish krona/kronor	Sweden
SGD	702	2	Singapore dollar	Singapore
SHP	654	2	Saint Helena pound	Saint Helena (SH-SH),  Ascension Island (SH-AC),  Tristan da Cunha
SLL	694	2	Sierra Leonean leone	Sierra Leone
SOS	706	2	Somali shilling	Somalia
SRD	968	2	Surinamese dollar	Suriname
SSP	728	2	South Sudanese pound	South Sudan
STN[15]	930	2	São Tomé and Príncipe dobra	São Tomé and Príncipe
SVC	222	2	Salvadoran colón	El Salvador
SYP	760	2	Syrian pound	Syria
SZL	748	2	Swazi lilangeni	Eswatini
THB	764	2	Thai baht	Thailand
TJS	972	2	Tajikistani somoni	Tajikistan
TMT	934	2	Turkmenistan manat	Turkmenistan
TND	788	3	Tunisian dinar	Tunisia
TOP	776	2	Tongan paʻanga	Tonga
TRY	949	2	Turkish lira	Turkey
TTD	780	2	Trinidad and Tobago dollar	Trinidad and Tobago
TWD	901	2	New Taiwan dollar	Taiwan
TZS	834	2	Tanzanian shilling	Tanzania
UAH	980	2	Ukrainian hryvnia	Ukraine
UGX	800	0	Ugandan shilling	Uganda
USD	840	2	United States dollar	United States,  American Samoa (AS),  Barbados (BB) (as well as Barbados Dollar),  Bermuda (BM) (as well as Bermudian Dollar),  British Indian Ocean Territory (IO) (also uses GBP),  British Virgin Islands (VG),  Caribbean Netherlands (BQ – Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba),  Ecuador (EC),  El Salvador (SV),  Guam (GU),  Haiti (HT),  Marshall Islands (MH),  Federated States of Micronesia (FM),  Northern Mariana Islands (MP),  Palau (PW),  Panama (PA) (as well as Panamanian Balboa),  Puerto Rico (PR),  Timor-Leste (TL),  Turks and Caicos Islands (TC),  U.S. Virgin Islands (VI),  United States Minor Outlying Islands (UM)
USN	997	2	United States dollar (next day) (funds code)	United States
UYI	940	0	Uruguay Peso en Unidades Indexadas (URUIURUI) (funds code)	Uruguay
UYU	858	2	Uruguayan peso	Uruguay
UYW	927	4	Unidad previsional	Uruguay
UZS	860	2	Uzbekistan som	Uzbekistan
VES	928	2	Venezuelan bolívar soberano[14]	Venezuela
VND	704	0	Vietnamese đồng	Vietnam
VUV	548	0	Vanuatu vatu	Vanuatu
WST	882	2	Samoan tala	Samoa
XAF	950	0	CFA franc BEAC	Cameroon (CM),  Central African Republic (CF),  Republic of the Congo (CG),  Chad (TD),  Equatorial Guinea(GQ),  Gabon (GA)
XAG	961	.	Silver (one troy ounce)
XAU	959	.	Gold (one troy ounce)
XBA	955	.	European Composite Unit (EURCO) (bond market unit)
XBB	956	.	European Monetary Unit (E.M.U.-6) (bond market unit)
XBC	957	.	European Unit of Account 9 (E.U.A.-9) (bond market unit)
XBD	958	.	European Unit of Account 17 (E.U.A.-17) (bond market unit)
XCD	951	2	East Caribbean dollar	Anguilla (AI),  Antigua and Barbuda (AG),  Dominica (DM),  Grenada (GD),  Montserrat (MS),  Saint Kitts and Nevis (KN),  Saint Lucia (LC),  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VC)
XDR	960	.	Special drawing rights	International Monetary Fund
XOF	952	0	CFA franc BCEAO	Benin (BJ),  Burkina Faso (BF),  Côte d’Ivoire (CI),  Guinea-Bissau (GW),  Mali (ML),  Niger (NE),  Senegal (SN),  Togo (TG)
XPD	964	.	Palladium (one troy ounce)
XPF	953	0	CFP franc (franc Pacifique)	French territories of the Pacific Ocean:  French Polynesia (PF),  New Caledonia (NC),  Wallis and Futuna (WF)
XPT	962	.	Platinum (one troy ounce)
XSU	994	.	SUCRE	Unified System for Regional Compensation (SUCRE)
XTS	963	.	Code reserved for testing purposes
XUA	965	.	ADB Unit of Account	African Development Bank
XXX	999	.	No currency
YER	886	2	Yemeni rial	Yemen
ZAR	710	2	South African rand	South Africa
ZMW	967	2	Zambian kwacha	Zambia
ZWL	932	2	Zimbabwean dollar A/10	Zimbabwe

Game to Remember the Currencies of the Countries

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