Table of Contents
Here is the list of interesting facts about money. You might be knowing some of them, but the rest will surprise you!
- The pound sterling is the world’s oldest currency still in use (introduced in the eighth century).
- The motto on the first US coin was “Mind Your Business” (This wise piece of advice featured on the first one-cent ‘Fugio’ coin designed by Benjamin Franklin in 1787)
- The famous “In God We Trust” motto didn’t appear on American coins until 1864.
- Only 8% of the world’s currency is in cash (the vast majority of the planet’s currency exists in electronic form).
- The top 1% wealthiest people in the world have 50% of the world’s wealth
- World debt reached a record $281 trillion at end of 2020, more than 355% of global GDP (IIF)
- No trees are cut down to make our banknotes
- Star Wars, Pokémon, and Frozen coins are legal tenders on the island of Niue
- The new English £5 note can play vinyl records
- A $1 bill lasts just 18 months in circulation
- In India, the currency has existed in the form of coins since the 6th century BC.
- Indian Rupee note has Braille signs to help visually impaired people.
- In India, except for one rupee note and coins, everything else is printed by the RBI.
- INR at the time of independence was ₹1 = $1
- The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing uses 9.7 tons of ink a day
- The average European banknote is home to 26,000 colonies of bacteria (a recent Oxford University study)
- Queen Elizabeth II features on the most coins and banknotes (featured on the currencies of more than 30 countries)
- Living people are banned from appearing on US coins or banknotes
- There is approximately US $37 trillion in circulation: this includes all the physical money and the money deposited in savings and checking accounts.
- The world’s least valuable coin, Uzbekistan’s tiyin is worth next to nothing (worth around 2,400 times less than a US one-cent coin)
- Money is made in factories called mints.
- Two-thirds of all US$100 bills are held outside the US.
- There are more than 3.5 million ATMs in the world.
- The United States officially adopted the dollar as its unit of currency in 1785.
- The U.S. dollar is the most commonly used currency in the world.
- The Romans were the first to stamp the image of a living person on a coin.
- The first paper money was made in China over 1,000 years ago.
- More Monopoly (game) money is printed each year than actual money.
- Some countries share a currency (countries in Europe, all use the Euro).
- In 1920, credit cards were first used in the United States.
- In The United States, the largest bill ever printed was a $100,000 gold certificate issued in 1934.
- The International Space Station is the world’s most expensive object ever built at US$150 billion.
- The first Bitcoin transaction was to buy a pizza for 10,000 Bitcoins.
- Tea bricks were used as money in Siberia until WW2.
- Over 170 different currencies are used around the world today.
- One of the most expensive coins in the world is the 1913 Liberty Head nickel (five-cent coin).
- McDonald’s makes about US$75 million per day.
- Early Romans used salt as a form of money. Even the word “salary” is derived from sal, which means “salt” in Latin.
- There are three ways by which Governments can get money: 1) print it, 2) borrow it, or 3) collect taxes from their citizens.
- Abraham Lincoln was the first American pictured on an American coin in 1909.
- Apple earns US$300,000 per minute.
- Total U.S. consumer debt is at $14.9 trillion (includes mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and student loans).
- The national debt of India amounted to around $2.41 trillion (2020)
- 37% of all households carry some sort of credit card debt in the United States.
- 1 in 5 Americans has a zero or negative net worth.
- Gambling in the U.S. brings in more revenue than theme parks, sporting events, cruise ships, and music combined.
- The average American pays more than $600,000 in interest over their lifetime.
- 12% of the money taken home by the average American family is spent on interest.
- North Korea is the largest counterfeiter.
- The secret service was originally made to fight counterfeiting in the United States.
- Before the Federal Reserve in 1913, each bank printed its own money in the United States.
- A penny costs more to manufacture than it is worth.
- More than half of lottery tickets sold are bought by 5% of people.
- Women who wait to marry earn more.
- If you have $10 in your pocket and you have no debt, you are wealthier than 25% of Americans.
($1 ~ ₹ 74, $1 trillion = $1000 billion, $1 billion = $1000 million)
“Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs.” – Zig Ziglar
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