Croatia became an official member of the euro area on January 1, 2023 and began to use the single European currency instead of its national currency, the kuna.
The corresponding decision was approved on July 12 by the Council of the European Union. To adopt the euro, a country had to fulfill a number of economic conditions, including a stable exchange rate and low inflation.
Croatia has become the 20th country of the European Union to join the Eurozone. Of the EU countries, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland have retained their currency so far. Of these, only Bulgaria and Denmark are participating in the preliminary process of adopting the euro, the European exchange rate mechanism.