Withdrawal of low-denomination coins

The Swiss 1 Rappen coin, last minted in 2006

The withdrawal of a country's lowest-denomination coins from circulation (usually a one-cent coin or equivalent) may either be through a decision to remove the coins from circulation, or simply through ceasing minting. This usually occurs after inflation or increased production costs for the coin. The coin being removed usually has a poor seigniorage, which means the coin costs as much if not more to produce than it is worth at face value.

Reasons

This withdrawal may be due to the high cost of production, since the coin may be worth less than its cost of production. For example, when Canada phased out its penny in 2012, its production cost was 1.6 cents per penny. Other reasons include low purchasing power and low utility. Often coins are withdrawn after their purchasing power has been eroded after decades of inflation. In Switzerland, the 1 Rappen coin had fallen into disuse by the early 1980s, but was still produced until 2006, albeit in ever decreasing quantities. Conversely, the British Treasury argued for the retention of the decimal halfpenny as late as 1983, on the grounds that its withdrawal would drive up inflation.

In some countries, such as New Zealand, withdrawn coins are declared to be no longer legal tender; in other countries, such as Australia, they remain legal tender indefinitely.

When the coin in question is no longer minted, cash transactions are rounded, typically through Swedish rounding.

Efforts have been made to end the routine use of pennies, and equivalents thereof, in several more countries, including the United States. Countries in the eurozone have had different responses to the issue; according to James Debono writing for Malta Today, "scrapping the coins is considered unthinkable for Germany where both consumers and retailers are obsessed with precise pricing."

Countries

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Countries that have withdrawn or ended production of low-denomination coins, as well as some coins that were not the lowest denomination due to their cost of manufacture, include:

Country	Coin	Year of last minting	Withdrawal date	Legal tender?	Notes
Albania	5 qindarka	1988	1992	NoYes No	The 1 lek has not been officially withdrawn.
	10 qindarka
	20 qindarka
	50 qindarka
	1 Lek	2013	N/A	Yes
	2 Lekë	1989	1992	No
Algeria	1 centime	1980s	1980s	No
	2 centimes
	5 centimes
	10 centimes
	20 centimes
	50 centimes
	1⁄4 dinars	2000	2000	Yes
	1⁄2 dinars
Argentina	1 centavo	2000	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	5 centavos	2011
	10 centavos
	25 centavos	2010
	50 centavos
Armenia	10 luma	2002	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	20 luma
	50 luma
	1 dram
	3 drams
	5 drams
Australia	1 cent	1991	1 February 1992	Yes	Legal tender for amounts not exceeding 20 cents; can be paid into bank accounts but sometimes refused.
	2 cents
Austria	1 groschen	1950	31 December 2001	No	As of 1 January 2002, with the introduction of the euro, the Austrian Schilling lost its function as a legal currency, but all legal tender coins at the time of the discontinuation of the Schilling are still convertible to Euros indefinitely.
	2 groschen	1991
	5 groschen	1992
	20 groschen	1954	30 April 1959
Bahamas	1 cent	2015	2020	No	Production of the one-cent coin ended on 31 January 2020; one-cent coins remained as valid coins for use until 30 December 2020; were accepted for full redemption from the partner banks of the Central Bank of the Bahamas through 30 June 2021.
Bangladesh	1 poisha	2001	N/A	Yes	Legal tender for amounts not exceeding 50 poisha.
	5 poisha
	10 poisha
	25 poisha
	50 poisha
Belgium	1 centime	1914	7 May 1953	No	With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 50-centime, 1-franc, 5-franc, 20-franc and 50-franc coins ceased to function as legal currencies; convertibility of coins ceased in December 2004.
	2 centimes	1919
	5 centimes	1943	1 January 1957
	10 centimes	1946
	20 centimes	1963	26 November 1969
	25 centimes	1975	4 July 1980
	10 francs	1979	25 June 1985
Brazil	1 centavo	2005	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
Canada	1 cent	2012	4 February 2013	Yes	Cash transactions with sums ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents are rounded down; those ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents are rounded up. Non-cash transactions are still denominated to the cent.
Chile	1 centavo	1975	1979	No	1 and 5 peso coins ceased being produced in 2016 and were no longer legal tender on 1 November 2017; amounts are rounded to the nearest 10 pesos.
	5 centavos	1976
	10 centavos	1979	1984
	50 centavos
	1 peso	2016	1 November 2017
	5 pesos
China	1 fen	2018	N/A	Yes	1, 2, and 5 fen coins have not been officially withdrawn. Amounts are rounded to the nearest 1 jiao (0.1 yuan or 10 fen).
	2 fen	2000	N/A	Yes
	5 fen	2000	N/A	Yes
	2 jiao	1986	1 July 2000	No
Colombia	1 centavo	1978	1978	No	Amounts are rounded to the nearest 50 pesos.
	5 centavos	1979	1979
	10 centavos	1980	1983
	20 centavos	1979
	50 centavos	1982
	1 peso	1985	1989
	2 pesos	1988
	5 pesos	1993	1993
	10 pesos	1994	2008
	20 pesos	2008
Cook Islands	1 cent	1983	1993	No	Production of 1- and 2-cent coins ceased in 1983 and were demonetized in 1993; 5-cent coin demonetized on 30 April 2016, along with previous coin issues.
	2 cents
	5 cents	1994	30 April 2016
Costa Rica	5 céntimos	1979	1990	No
	10 céntimos	1982
	25 céntimos	1989
	50 céntimos	1990
	1 colón	1998	1998
	2 colones	1984
	5 colones	2016	2016
	20 colones	1996	1996
Croatia	1 lipa	2012	31 December 2022	No	From 2009 through 2022, 1 and 2 lipa coins were struck only as parts of the annual coin sets. With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2023, the kuna ceased to be a legal tender currency.
	2 lipa
Cuba	1 centavo	2020	N/A	Yes
	2 centavos	2010	N/A	Yes
	5 centavos	2020	N/A	Yes
	10 centavos	1961	13 March 1962	No
	40 centavos	1998	July 2004	No
Cyprus	1⁄2 cent	1 October 1992	1 December 2001	No	As of 1 January 2008, with the introduction of the euro, the Cypriot pound lost its function as a legal currency.
Czech Republic	10 haléřů	2003	31 October 2003	No	Exchangeable for five years from withdrawal, which ended in 2013.
	20 haléřů
	50 haléřů	2008	31 August 2008
Denmark	1 øre	1973	1 April 1973	No	Exchangeable at Danmarks Nationalbank for 3 years after withdrawal—now treated as scrap metal.
	2 øre
	5 øre	1989	1 July 1989
	10 øre
	25 øre	2008	1 October 2008
Dominican Republic	1 centavo	1989	1991	No
	5 centavos
	10 centavos	1991	2004
	25 centavos
	1⁄2 peso	1990	2004
Egypt	5 piastres	2008	2008	Yes
	10 piastres
	20 piastres
Estonia	5 senti	1 January 1997	2011	No	The 5 senti coin was discontinued in 1997, but remained legal tender. The 5 krooni coin was issued as a commemorative coin and thus rarely circulated. As of 1 January 2011, with the introduction of the euro, the Estonian kroon lost its function as a legal currency.
	5 krooni	1994
Eurozone (select members)	1 and 2 cents	2002	2002	Yes	All cash purchases in noted member states are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. Non-cash transactions still denominated to the cent. 1 and 2 cent coins not officially withdrawn, still legal tender in said states, still legal tender in rest of Eurozone, and are still minted in small quantities for mint sets.
		2004	September 2004
		2015	31 October 2015
		2017	1 January 2018
		2019	1 December 2019
		2022	1 July 2022
		2024	1 January 2025
Fiji	1 and 2 cents	2001 for 2 Cents, and 2006 for 1 Cent	13 November 2008	No
Finland	1 penni	1979	1979	No	As of 1 January 2002, with the introduction of the euro, the Finnish markka lost its function as a legal currency.
	5 penniä	1990	1990
	20 penniä
France	1 centime	1979	31 December 2001	No	The 1-centime coin fell out of use in the 1980s, but was still minted for annual coin sets from 1980 through 2001. As of 2002, the French franc is no longer a legal tender currency, but was still exchangeable for euros until 2012.
Georgia	1 tetri	1 January 2021	1 January 2021	No	1 and 2 tetri coins were discontinued as of 1 January 2021 and lost their status as legal tender. According to the new regulations on cash payments introduced by the National Bank of Georgia on 1 January 2019, 1 and 2 tetri are rounded to 0, and 3, 4, 6 and 7 tetri are rounded to 5.
	2 tetri
Greece	1 lepton	1879	1879	No	The 50 lepta, 1 drachma, and 2 drachma coins were rarely used but remained legal tender. Amounts were rounded to the nearest 5 or 0. As of 1 January 2002, with the introduction of the euro, the Greek drachma lost its function as a legal currency.
	2 lepta	1878	1878
	5 lepta	1971	1973
	10 lepta	1978	1978
	20 lepta
	50 lepta	1986	2002
	1 drachma	2000
	2 drachmes
Honduras	1 centavo	1998 1974	1998	No
	2 centavos	1998
Hong Kong	1 cent	1941	30 September 1995	No	Can be exchanged or paid into HSBC banks.
	5 cents	1980	1 January 1989
Hungary	2 filler	1992	30 September 1992	No	Exchangeable at the Hungarian National Bank until 31 December 1993.
	5 filler
	10 filler	1996	30 September 1996		Exchangeable until 31 December 1997.
	20 filler
	50 filler	1999	30 September 1999		Exchangeable until 30 September 2000.
	1 forint	2008	1 March 2008		Exchangeable for five years from the date of withdrawal.
	2 forint
Iceland	5 aurar	1985	1 October 2003	No
	10 aurar	1990
	50 aurar
India	1 paisa	1981	30 June 2011	No	On 30 June 2011, all coins in denominations of 25 paisa and below were officially demonetised.
	2 paise	1979		No
	3 paise	1971		No
	5 paise	1994		No
	10 paise	1998		No
	20 paise	1997		No
	25 paise	2002		No
	50 paise	2016	N/A	Yes
Indonesia	1 rupiah	1970	N/A	Yes
	2 rupiah	1971	?	No
	5 rupiah	1979	15 November 1996
	10 rupiah
	25 rupiah	1996	31 August 2010
Ireland	Halfpenny (decimal)	1986	1 January 1987	No	Irish pound coins were withdrawn in 2002 upon the introduction of the euro, but remain indefinitely convertible to euros at the Central Bank of Ireland.
Israel	1 agora	1990	1 January 2008	No	Exchangeable at the Bank of Israel and commercial banks for 3 years from withdrawal. Amounts are rounded to the nearest 10 agorot.
	5 agorot	2007	1 January 2008
Italy	1 lira	1959	28 February 2002	No	The centesimo (below 1 lira) coins were withdrawn in 1947. 1- and 2-lire coins were minted from 1968 for collectors’ use only; 5-, 10-, and 20-lire coins fell out of use throughout the 1990s. All lira-denominated coins were withdrawn in 2002 with the introduction of the euro and exchangeable until 2011.
	2 lire
	5 lire	2001
	10 lire
	20 lire
Jamaica	1 cent	2012	15 February 2018	No
	5 cents	1994	1994
	10 cents	2012	15 February 2018
	20 cents	1990	1990
	25 cents	2012	15 February 2018
	50 cents	1990	1990
Japan	1 rin	1892	1953	No	All rin and sen coins were eventually demonetized at the end of 1953 when the Japanese government passed a law abolishing subsidiary coinage in favor of the yen.
	5 rin	1919
	1⁄2 sen	1892
	1 sen	1945
	2 sen	1892
	5 sen	1946
	10 sen
	20 sen	1948
	50 sen
	1 yen	2016	N/A	Yes	1-yen, 5-yen, and 50-yen coins have not been officially withdrawn and are produced in limited quantities for annual coin sets.
	5 yen	2022
	50 yen
Kazakhstan	2 tiyin	2001	31 December 2012	No
	5 tiyin
	10 tiyin
	20 tiyin
	50 tiyin
Kenya	5 cents	1991	31 December 2011	No
	10 cents	1994	31 December 2011
	25 cents	1973	31 December 2011
	50 cents	2009	N/A	Yes
Kyrgyzstan	1 tyiyn	N/A	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn; was minted in limited numbers as part of a new series of coins for general circulation for collectors.
Lebanon	1⁄2 piastre	1941	1941	No
	1 piastre	1955	1955
	21⁄2 piastres
	5 piastres	1975	1975
	10 piastres
	25 piastres	1980	1980
	50 piastres
	1 pound	1986	1986
Malaysia	1 sen	2008	1 April 2008	Yes
Mexico	5 centavos	2002	2002	Yes	Not officially withdrawn; minting of coin ceased.
Moldova	1 ban	2017	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn; only the production of the coins was stopped.
Mongolia	1 möngö	1981	1992	No
	2 möngö
	5 möngö
	10 möngö
	15 möngö
	20 möngö
	50 möngö
Morocco	1 santim	2001	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	5 santimat	2010
Netherlands	1⁄2 cent	1948	1948	No	With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, 1-guilder, 2+1⁄2-guilder, and 5-guilder coins ceased to function as legal currencies and ceased to be convertible into euros in 2007.
	1 cent	1983	1983
	2+1⁄2 cents	1948	1948
	1⁄2 guilder	1930	1930
New Zealand	1 cent	1987	30 April 1990	No	Exchangeable at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, but amounts over $5 must be paid into a New Zealand bank account.
	2 cents
	5 cents	2004	1 November 2006
Nigeria	1⁄2 kobo	2007	28 February 2007	No	1⁄2- to 25-kobo coins were withdrawn from circulation with effect from 28 February 2007.
	1 kobo
	5 kobo
	10 kobo
	25 kobo
North Macedonia	50 deni	1993	1 January 2013	No	Exchangeable at banks from 1 January to 31 March 2013; exchangeable only at the National Bank of North Macedonia thereafter.
Norway	1 øre	1972	1975	No	Norges Bank was obliged to redeem 50-øre coins until 2022.
	2 øre
	5 øre	1992	1985
	10 øre	1992	1993
	25 øre	1985	1985
	50 øre	2012	1 May 2012
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)	1 cent	2013	July 2015	No	1- and 2-cent coins were withdrawn from circulation from July 2015, and remained legal tender until 30 July 2020.
	2 cents	2011
Pakistan	1 paisa	1979	1 October 2014	No	On 1 October 2014, all coins in denominations of 50 paisa and below were officially demonetised.
	2 paisa	1976
	5 paisa	1996
	10 paisa
	25 paisa
	50 paisa
Panama	1⁄2 centesimo	1907	1930	No
	11⁄4 centesimo	1940	1970
	21⁄2 centesimo	1976	1976
Papua New Guinea	1 toea	2006	19 April 2007	No
	2 toea
Peru	1 céntimo	2010	1 January 2019	Yes
	5 céntimos	2018	1 January 2019
Philippines	1⁄2 centavo	1908	1908	No
	10 centavos	2017	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	20 centavos	2017	1945	No
	50 centavos	1994	1998
	2 pesos
Portugal	1 centavo	1922	1922	No	With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 escudo coins ceased to function as legal currencies.
	2 centavos	1921	1921
	4 centavos	1927	1919
	5 centavos	1927	1927
	10 centavos	1979	1979
	20 centavos	1974	1974
	50 centavos	1979	1979
	2.5 escudos	1985	1985
	25 escudos	1986	1986
Russia	1 kopeck	2018	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	5 kopecks
	10 kopecks
	50 kopecks
Serbia	1 para	1994	1 May 2003	No	The Serbian dinar replaced the Yugoslav dinar in 2003.
	5 para	1996	1 May 2003
	10 para	1998	1 May 2003
	50 para	2007	1 January 2008
Singapore	1 cent	2002	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
Slovakia	10 halierov	2003	31 December 2003	No	As of 1 January 2009, with the introduction of the euro, the Slovak koruna lost its function as a legal currency.
	20 halierov
Slovenia	10 stotinov	2006	31 December 2006	No	As of 1 January 2007, with the introduction of the euro, the Slovenian tolar lost its function as a legal currency.
	20 stotinov
South Africa	1 cent	2002	1 April 2002	Yes
	2 cents
	5 cents	2012	1 April 2012
South Korea	1 won	1991	N/A	Yes	1- and 5-won coins have not been officially withdrawn and have been produced in limited quantities for the Bank of Korea's official annual coin sets since 1992. Amounts are rounded to the nearest 10 won.
	5 won
Spain	1 céntimo	1913	1913	No	The céntimo coins lost their legal tender status in 1983. With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 peseta coins lost their legal tender status.
	2 céntimos	1912	1912
	5 céntimos	1953	1953
	10 céntimos	1959	1959
	20 céntimos	1870	1870
	25 céntimos	1937	1937
	50 céntimos	1983	1983
Sweden	1 öre	1971	30 June 1972	No	Payable into bank accounts for several months after withdrawal; now treated as scrap metal.
	2 öre
	5 öre	1984	30 June 1985
	25 öre
	10 öre	1991	30 September 1992
	50 öre	2009	30 September 2010
Switzerland	1 Rappen	2006	1 January 2007	No	Exchangeable at the Swiss National Bank for 20 years after withdrawal.
	2 Rappen	1974	1978
Taiwan	10 cents	1981	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	20 cents
	50 cents	2004
Tajikistan	1 diram	2011	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn; was minted in limited numbers as part of a new series of coins for general circulation for collectors.
	2 diram
	5 diram	2019
	25 diram	2006
Tanzania	5 cents	1984	1984	No
	10 cents
	20 cents
	50 cents	1990	1990
	1 shilling	1992	1992
	5 shillings	1993	1993
	10 shillings
	20 shillings	1992	1992
Thailand	1 satang	N/A	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn; used only in transactions between domestic banks.
	5 satang
	10 satang
Trinidad and Tobago	1 cent	2014	2018	No	Production ceased in 2014 and lost its validity in 2018; exchangeable at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
Tunisia	1 millim	1990	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	2 millims	1983
Turkey	10 old para (0.25 old kuruş)	1950	1950	No	Following the redenomination that took effect on 1 January 2005, 1,000,000 old lira was replaced with 1 new lira.
	1⁄2 old kuruş (0.5 old kuruş)	1965	1965
	1 old kuruş	1989	1989
	21⁄2 old kuruş	1965	1965
	5, 10, 25 and 50 kuruş	1989	1989
	10 kuruş
	25 kuruş
	50 kuruş
	1 old lira	1990	1990
	21⁄2 old lira	1989	1989
	5 old lira	1990	1990
	10 old lira
	20 old lira
	25 old lira
	50 old lira	1995	1995
	100 old lira
	500 old lira	1998	1998
	1,000 old lira
	2,500 old lira
	5,000 old lira	2000	1 February 2001
	10,000 old lira	2000	15 December 2001
	25,000 old lira	2003	23 February 2004
	50,000 old lira	2004	31 December 2005
	100,000 old lira
	250,000 old lira
Ukraine	1 kopiyka	2016	1 October 2019	No	Exchangeable for 3 years after withdrawal. Amounts are rounded to the nearest 10 kopiyok (₴0.10).
	2 kopiyky	2014
	5 kopiyok	2015
	10 kopiyok	2022	1 October 2025	Yes
	25 kopiyok	2016	1 October 2020	No
United Arab Emirates	1 fils	2005	N/A	Yes	Not officially withdrawn.
	5 fils	2014
	10 fils	2018
United Kingdom	Half farthing (1⁄8 d)	1856	1870	No	Decimal halfpennies can be paid into bank accounts at the discretion of commercial banks; they cannot be exchanged by the general public at the Royal Mint, although private companies exist which can do so.
	farthing (1⁄4 d)	1956	1960
	ha'penny (1⁄2 d, £1⁄480)	1967	15 February 1971
	Penny (old) (1d, £1⁄240)	1970
	Threepence (3d or 1+1⁄4p, £1⁄80)		31 August 1971
	1⁄2 penny (£1⁄200)	1984	31 December 1984
	Sixpence (6d or 2+1⁄2p, £1⁄40)	1970	30 June 1980
	Shilling (1/– or 5p, £1⁄20)	1970	31 July 1990		The shilling and florin remained legal tender after decimalisation with respective values of 5p and 10p, the same fraction of £1 as before. The new coins of those values had the same dimensions. New decimal coins with smaller dimensions were introduced in the early 1990s and the old designs, along with the pre-decimal coins, withdrawn shortly afterwards.
	Five pence	1989
	Florin (2/– or 10p, £1⁄10)	1970	30 June 1993
	Ten pence	1989
United States	1⁄2 cent	1857	21 February 1857	Yes	All US coinage, pursuant to the Coinage Act of 1965, is legal tender for any amount. Currency can only be eliminated through an act of Congress. 1 cent coin not officially withdrawn; minting of coin for circulation halted.
	1 cent	2025	N/A
	2 cents	1872	1873
	3 cents	1873	1889
	20 cents	1878	2 May 1878
Uruguay	10 centésimos	1994	2005	No
	20 centésimos
	50 centésimos	2008	1 July 2010
Uzbekistan	1 tiyin	1994	1 March 2020	No
	3 tiyin
	5 tiyin
	10 tiyin
	20 tiyin
	50 tiyin
	1 sum	2000
	5 sum	2001
	10 sum
Vanuatu	1 vatu	2011	31 March 2011	No
	2 vatu
Zambia	1 old ngwee	1983	1 January 2013	No	Following the redenomination that took effect on 1 January 2013, 1,000 old kwacha was replaced by 1 new kwacha.
	2 old ngwee
	5 old ngwee	1987
	10 old ngwee
	20 old ngwee	1988
	25 old ngwee	1992
	50 old ngwee
	25 old ngwee	1992
	50 old ngwee
	1 old kwacha	1992
	5 old kwacha
	10 old kwacha

See also

• Cent (currency)
• Penny
• Legal tender § Demonetization