# What country has the lowest highest denomination bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237 "2014-03-09T02:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/1 "2014-03-09T02:26:45Z")
The largest Chinese bill is the 100 yuan note, worth approximately $17 USD. Does any country have a largest banknote that is worth less than this? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/2 "2014-03-09T02:48:06Z")
In 2009, Zimbabwe had a $100 trillion dollar bill that was worth about $5 American. At that point they pretty much abandoned their own currency. It’s quite easy to find examples of this when hyperinflation occurs. Of course, the all time winner; 1. Hungary The worst inflation ever in the world, trough the end of 1945 until July 1946. In the middle of 1946, the highest denomination ever was issued, it was 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengő (a hundred quintillion pengő). Even more ! ten times higher denomination from above had printed but not issued. It was 1000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or a sextillion Pengő or one milliard billion Pengő Rather atrociously written, from here: [http://www.moneygolddiamond.com/2010/01/world-top-denomination-currency.html](http://www.moneygolddiamond.com/2010/01/world-top-denomination-currency.html) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/3 "2014-03-09T04:45:14Z")
OP, I suggest you take a look at the poorest countries of the world: > **[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita)** > > A country's gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita is the PPP value of all final goods and services produced within an economy in a given year, divided by the average (or mid-year) population for the same year. This is similar to nominal GDP per capita, but adjusted for the cost of living in each country. > In 2019, the estimated average GDP per capita (PPP) of all of the countries of the world was Int$ 18,381.\[a\] For rankings regarding wealth, see list of co... You can then look up each of their currencies in Wikipedia, for example Burundi: > **[Burundian franc | Banknotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundian_franc#Banknotes)** > > From February 1964 until 31 December 1965, notes of the Banque d’Emission du Rwanda et du Burundi (Issuing Bank of Rwanda and Burundi), in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 francs, were overprinted with a diagonal hollow "BURUNDI" for use in the country. These were followed in 1964 and 1965 by regular issues in the same denominations by the Banque du Royaume du Burundi (Bank of the Kingdom of Burundi). > In 1966, notes for 20 francs and above were overprinted by the Bank of the Re... which tell you the largest banknote is the 10,000 Burundian Franc Looking up the exchange rate you notice $1USD=1546 Burundian Francs > **[1 USD to BIF - US Dollars to Burundian Francs Exchange Rate](https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=USD&To=BIF)** > > Get the latest 1 US Dollar to Burundian Franc rate for FREE with the original Universal Currency Converter. Set rate alerts for USD to BIF and learn more about US Dollars and Burundian Francs from XE - the Currency Authority. or roughly $6.47 for this largest note. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/4 "2014-03-09T05:18:54Z")
I…think you’re both misreading the OP. They’re not asking which country has the _highest_ denomination; they’re asking which currency has the lowest number _as_ it’s highest denomination. i.e. Elbonia’s currency, the Eyecrud (“₡”), is worth the same as a US dollar, but the currency only has ₡1, ₡5, ₡10, and ₡60 notes. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/5 "2014-03-09T05:32:18Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I…think you’re both misreading the OP. They’re not asking which country has the _highest_ denomination; they’re asking which currency has the lowest number _as_ it’s highest denomination. > > i.e. Elbonia’s currency, the Eyecrud (“₡”), is worth the same as a US dollar, but the currency only has ₡1, ₡5, ₡10, and ₡60 notes. Actually there’s a bit of a mismatch between the thread title and the contents of the OP. > [@](#): > > What country has the lowest highest denomination bill? This matches your interpretation. > [@](#): > > Does any country have a largest banknote that is worth less than this? This matches the interpretation in the other replies. Edited to add: Perhaps the title should have been “What country has the lowest [value in $US] highest denomination bill?” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/6 "2014-03-09T05:54:16Z")
I don’t get out much anymore, but noticed some smallish largests three decades ago: When I visited South Korea in 1978, 10000-won government-issued notes were in use ($17) but 100,000-won notes with a completely different texture (and less “official looking”) issued by private banks were used for large sums. Would the latter count? I visited the Phillipines in the mid-1980’s, changed a largish sum, and was paid in 100-peso notes worth $5 each. Wikipedia implies that this was indeed the largest demonination at that time. (Presumably, like South Korea, there were larger private-bank notes?) ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/7 "2014-03-09T06:35:15Z")
I can’t remember what the exchange rate was, but when I was in Laos in 2001, the largest bill generally available was worth around a dollar. There was one ATM in the country, I think so I got about $200 worth. 200 bills is a friggen’ stack. Those guys made counting cash an art form. They held the bills folded lengthwise with the corners pinched and could riff through those suckers like a bank bill counting machine. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/8 "2014-03-09T19:25:42Z")
Jordanian Dinar has no bill larger than 50, worth about 70 USD. Fifty might qualify as the “lowest highest denomination”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-lowest-highest-denomination-bill/683237/9 "2014-03-09T19:34:04Z")
No, wait, the Bahraini Dinar goes only up to the 20, as the largest bill in circulation… It’s worth about USD-50.