Banknote Sizes Around the World: Dimensions Chart, Why US Notes Shrank in 1929, and the Largest and Smallest Notes

Last updated: September 2026

What size is a banknote?

There is no international standard, only national ones. A United States note is 155.96 by 66.29 mm, converted from the 6.14 by 2.61 inches the U.S. Currency Education Program publishes. A Canadian note is 152.4 by 69.85 mm. A 5 euro note is 120 by 62 mm and a 500 euro note is 160 by 82 mm. The spread across circulating money is roughly 40 mm in each direction.

Within that range, issuers make one of two choices, and the choice is almost always driven by accessibility rather than aesthetics. Either every denomination is the same size and blind and partially sighted users are given a tactile feature to identify value, as in Canada, or the notes step up in size with the value so that denomination can be judged by comparison, as in the euro area and the United Kingdom. The Bank of England states the rule on its own note pages in one line: the higher the value of a note, the larger it is (Bank of England).

Two more variables sit underneath the headline numbers. Thickness is specified as tightly as length: euro banknotes are 0.12 mm thick (Oesterreichische Nationalbank) and Swedish banknote paper is 125 micrometres plus or minus 10 percent (Sveriges Riksbank). And orientation is no longer a given: Canada and Switzerland both issue notes designed to be read vertically, at the same sheet dimensions as their horizontal siblings.

Banknote dimensions chart: 64 current notes

Every row below was taken from the issuing central bank or currency authority's own published specification. Dimensions are given as width by height in millimetres as the issuer publishes them. Where an issuer publishes inches, the millimetre figure is converted from the published inch measurement and both are shown.

Sources for the chart, one per issuing authority: euro dimensions from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank; United States from the U.S. Currency Education Program, converted from 6.14 by 2.61 inches; Canada from the Bank of Canada, which gives the actual size as 152.4 by 69.85 mm; the United Kingdom from the Bank of England note pages; Australia from the Reserve Bank of Australia denomination brochures; Switzerland from the Swiss National Bank; Sweden from Sveriges Riksbank; Singapore from the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Japan from the National Printing Bureau, which also records that the three denominations were issued on 3 July 2024 (NPB new banknotes); Hungary from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank; Sri Lanka from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Namibia from the Bank of Namibia.

Why did United States banknotes get smaller in 1929?

To save money. The U.S. Currency Education Program records that in an effort to lower manufacturing costs, all Federal Reserve notes were made about 30 percent smaller in 1929, measuring 6.14 by 2.61 inches rather than the 7.375 by 3.125 inches used before. The same change standardised the designs across every denomination and class of currency.

The economics are easy to follow once you think in sheets rather than notes. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing's own history records that the reduced size enabled it to convert from eight to 12 notes per sheet (Bureau of Engraving and Printing). Fifty percent more notes from the same sheet of paper, for the same number of press impressions and the same drying time. The Bureau today runs 32 or 50 notes to a sheet, having introduced the 50-subject format in February 2014.

Standardisation mattered as much as size. The Bureau notes that standardised designs were instituted for each denomination across all classes of currency, decreasing the number of different designs in circulation, and that this made it easier for the public to distinguish genuine notes from counterfeits. Before 1929 the United States circulated several classes of paper money side by side, each with its own designs, which is exactly why silver certificates, gold certificates, national bank notes and legal tender notes are separate collecting fields.

For collectors the 1929 change is the cleanest dividing line in American paper money. Large-size notes at 187.3 by 79.4 mm, converted from the published 7.375 by 3.125 inches, do not fit any album page designed for modern currency, and their scarcity, condition profile and price behaviour are entirely different. Our guide to the history of US paper money follows the series through the change, and the most valuable US banknotes covers what the large-size era left behind.

Why do the euro and the pound step up in size by denomination?

So that people who cannot read the numerals can still tell the notes apart. Where an issuer chooses stepped sizes, size becomes a security and accessibility feature in its own right, and the steps have to be large enough to feel but small enough to keep every note in the same wallets and machines.

The euro is the clearest worked example. The first series ran from 120 by 62 mm at the 5 euro note up to 160 by 82 mm at the 500, with each denomination also given its own colour and its own architectural period. The Europa series kept the widths but changed two of the heights: the 100 and the 200 came down from 82 mm to 77 mm, matching the 50, so that the top of the series is now less unwieldy. The Oesterreichische Nationalbank records that the Europa series was completed when the 100 and 200 entered circulation on 28 May 2019, and that the 500 is not part of it because the European Central Bank decided it would no longer be produced.

The United Kingdom uses smaller steps over a shorter range: 125 by 65 mm at the 5 pound note rising to 146 by 77 mm at the 50. Sweden steps the width but holds the height at 66 mm across all six denominations, so a Swedish note grows in one dimension only. Australia does the same at 65 mm. Holding one dimension constant is a deliberate compromise: it preserves the size cue while keeping every denomination compatible with the same cash drawers and the same sorting machines.

Why are Canadian and Hungarian notes all the same size?

Because those issuers solved the same accessibility problem a different way. The Bank of Canada gives every denomination the same 152.4 by 69.85 mm footprint and commits instead to providing blind and partially sighted Canadians with an effective suite of accessibility features so they can recognise denominations. The Magyar Nemzeti Bank states that Hungarian dimensions are identical for all denominations at 154 by 70 mm.

Uniform sizing has real operational advantages. Cash-handling machines, ATM cassettes, wallets, tills and note counters all become simpler when there is only one format to accommodate, and a central bank introducing a new denomination does not have to requalify the entire national cash infrastructure. It is also what makes vertical design possible: because a Canadian note is the same rectangle whichever way you turn the artwork, the Bank of Canada could issue a vertical 10 dollar note in 2018 and a vertical 20 dollar note for 2027 without changing a single machine (Bank of Canada).

The cost is that the tactile feature has to do all the work. Our guide to how a banknote is designed covers how accessibility enters the brief, and Canadian banknotes history follows the series that led to the current format.

Why are Swiss banknotes taller than they are wide?

Because the ninth series was designed to be read vertically. The Swiss National Bank publishes its dimensions accordingly, short edge first: 70 by 123 mm for the 10 franc note rising to 70 by 158 mm for the 1000. Held the way the design intends, a Swiss note is a tall rectangle rather than a wide one.

The vertical format follows from the design concept rather than the other way round. The Swiss series has no portraits at all. Instead each denomination carries a hand performing an action, a shimmering globe and a location, and that vertical stack of motifs reads far better in portrait orientation than in landscape. The notes are also printed on a three-layer composite substrate the bank names as Durasafe, which is described on the Swiss National Bank's own series page.

For anyone building a chart, the orientation question matters more than it looks. Comparing 70 by 158 mm against 158 by 65 mm without noticing that one is vertical produces nonsense. The Swiss 1000 franc note and the Australian 100 dollar note happen to share a 158 mm long edge, but one is 65 mm across and the other 70 mm, and they sit in an album facing different directions.

Which banknotes are the largest and the smallest?

Within this chart of 64 current notes, the largest is the Singapore 10,000 dollar note at 180 by 90 mm and the smallest is the 5 euro note at 120 by 62 mm. Against the whole history of paper money, both are unremarkable. The true record holders are far more extreme in both directions.

The Singapore result is worth a second look because it shows what happens when an issuer commits to stepped sizing across a very wide denomination range. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's Portrait series runs from the 2 dollar note at 126 by 63 mm to the 10,000 dollar note at 180 by 90 mm, a span of 54 mm in length and 27 mm in height inside a single family. Very few modern series stretch that far, because most countries stopped issuing their highest denominations.

The other end of the scale belongs to emergency and crisis issues, which were frequently printed on whatever stock was available at whatever size the press allowed. Our references on the largest banknotes by size and the smallest banknotes in the world cover the record holders in full, and notgeld emergency money explains why so many of the outliers come from the same few years.

What size sleeves and albums do you need?

Measure the longest note you own and buy for that, not for the average. A holder that fits a United States note at 156 mm will not take a 500 euro note at 160 mm, a 10,000 yen note at 160 mm, a Singapore 100 dollar note at 162 mm or a Singapore 1,000 dollar note at 170 mm. Buying one size for a world collection is the most common storage mistake.

Three practical groupings come out of the chart. Anything at or under about 148 mm long, which covers the pound, most euro denominations, Australia below the 50, Sweden below the 1000 and most of the Sri Lankan series, fits comfortably in a standard modern currency sleeve. The 150 to 165 mm band, which takes in every United States and Canadian note, the 500 euro, the Japanese series and the Singapore 100, needs the larger size. Anything above 165 mm, which in a modern collection mostly means the larger Singapore denominations, needs an oversize holder, and older large-size notes at 187 mm need an oversize holder of their own.

Height matters less often but it does bite. Singapore's 10,000 dollar note is 90 mm tall and the Swiss notes stand 123 to 158 mm tall in their intended orientation, so a page laid out for 66 mm notes will either crop them or force them sideways. Our full guide on how to store banknotes covers materials, humidity and long-term setups, and graded versus raw banknotes explains how a certified holder changes the problem entirely.

Dimensions are the most quietly useful data a collector can have: they decide what fits, they date a United States note to either side of 1929, and they tell you at a glance whether an issuer chose stepped sizing or a tactile feature. Continue with banknote paper for what those rectangles are made of, how banknotes are printed for how they are produced, or browse banknotes by country to compare a few in hand.

Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.