Historical Currency Converter: Old Money & Rates Since 1999

A historical currency converter calculates what an amount was worth in another currency at an earlier date, instead of at today's rate. This one does two things. On ECB reference rates since January 1999 it compares an amount between two months: $10,000 bought €9,864.85 in January 2000 and €8,540.66 in December 2025, a drop of 13.42% for the dollar. For the national currencies the euro replaced, such as the Deutsche Mark, the French franc and the Dutch guilder, it converts at the official fixed rate and adds the inflation since that year, because an old amount bought far more than its plain euro conversion suggests. Rates are monthly averages of the daily ECB rate, which smooths out single days. The data is refreshed every month and includes about 30 currencies, from the US dollar and the pound to the yen and the Swiss franc.

Since the euro started in 1999, the ECB reference rate peaked at 1.5990 dollars per euro on 15 July 2008, just before the financial crisis. At that point one dollar was worth only 0.6254 euro, its weakest level against the euro. The opposite record came on 26 October 2000, when the euro fell to 0.8252 dollars and one dollar bought 1.2118 euros. On monthly averages the range is a little narrower: the dollar was strongest in June 2001 at 1.1721 euro and weakest in July 2008 at 0.6341 euro. In 2022 the euro dropped below parity again, to 0.9565 dollars on 28 September 2022, its lowest daily rate in 20 years. The converter shows these daily records automatically whenever the euro is one of the two currencies, next to the highest and lowest monthly average in the period you choose.

Choose the two currencies, set the month you want as the start month and read the rate in the result, for example 1 USD = 0.9865 EUR for January 2000. The converter uses the average of the ECB's daily rates in that month, which is what most companies and tax authorities use for monthly or yearly reporting. For the exact rate of one specific day, the ECB publishes the daily euro reference rates on its website. Remember that the rate a bank or card provider charged you that day was a little worse, because they add a margin of usually 1% to 5% on top of the reference rate.

It is the average of the rates over one calendar year, used in accounting and in tax returns to convert income or costs that came in throughout the year. The table under the chart lists it for every year in your period. For the dollar against the euro the yearly averages moved from about 0.92 dollars per euro in 2000 to 1.47 in 2008 and back to about 1.13 in 2025, which shows how much the conversion of the same yearly income can change: $10,000 of income was worth about €10,850 at the 2000 average and only about €6,830 at the 2008 average. The converter averages the 12 monthly averages, which is very close to the average of all working days. The current year is the average of the months published so far, so it can still change until December.

One Deutsche Mark is worth €0.51129 at the fixed rate of 1.95583 marks per euro, so 1,000 DM converts to €511.29 and 10,000 DM to €5,112.92. That is the amount the Bundesbank still pays out today, without a time limit, for marks you hand in. It does not tell you what the money was worth: German consumer prices rose 104.22% between 1990 and 2025, so 1,000 DM from 1990 had the purchasing power of €1,044.16 in 2025, and 10,000 DM the purchasing power of €10,441.63. For older amounts the gap is even larger: 1 DM in 1960 equals €0.51 at the fixed rate, but €2.86 in 2025 euros. Choose Deutsche Mark in the old currency tab, enter the amount and the year it belongs to, and the converter shows both values plus a table for 1 to 10,000 marks.

When the euro started on 1 January 1999, the EU fixed the value of each national currency against it for good. One euro equals 1.95583 Deutsche Mark, 6.55957 French francs, 2.20371 Dutch guilders, 40.3399 Belgian or Luxembourg francs, 13.7603 Austrian schillings, 1,936.27 Italian lire, 166.386 Spanish pesetas, 200.482 Portuguese escudos, 0.787564 Irish pounds and 5.94573 Finnish markkas. Greece joined in 2001 at 340.750 drachmas. Later members followed with their own rates, such as Slovenia, Slovakia, the Baltic states, Croatia and Bulgaria. The rates were taken from the market rates on 31 December 1998, the last trading day before the start, and the Belgian and Luxembourg francs share one rate because the two countries had a currency union since 1921. These rates never change, which is why 100 French francs are always €15.24, whatever the date. The converter uses them for the old currency tab and shows the rate in the result.

The nominal value is the plain amount of money, and purchasing power is what that money can buy. 1,000 Dutch guilders from 1990 are nominally €453.78, but because Dutch prices rose 127.53% up to 2025, you would need €1,032.50 in 2025 to buy the same things. The converter shows both. Use the nominal amount when you want to know what a bank pays for old banknotes, and the purchasing power when you compare an old salary, rent or price with today.

An exchange rate is the price of one currency in another, and it moves with supply and demand for both. The biggest drivers are differences in interest rates (money flows to the currency that pays more), inflation (a currency that loses value faster tends to weaken), the trade balance, economic growth and confidence in a country or central bank. The euro's fall to 0.8252 dollars in 2000 and its rise to 1.5990 in 2008 both followed large shifts in growth and interest rates between Europe and the United States. Short-term moves are hard to predict, so the converter only looks back.

It depends on the country. The national central banks of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland still exchange their old banknotes without a time limit, and Germany, Austria and Ireland also their coins. Dutch guilder banknotes can be exchanged at De Nederlandsche Bank until 1 January 2032. French franc banknotes could be exchanged until 17 February 2012 and are now worthless as money. The amount you receive is always the fixed rate: a 100 DM note gives €51.13, not its value after inflation.

It is a useful first check, since monthly and yearly averages of the ECB reference rate are common in bookkeeping. Tax authorities often prescribe their own rate, though, such as a rate on the day of the transaction or an official yearly average, and the rules differ per country. Use the result as an indication and check the rate your tax office or accountant requires before filing.