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QuestionHow many banknotes are being circulated in Japan?

Answer

At the end of December 2023, the amount outstanding of banknotes in circulation -- for example, the amount held by households, firms, and financial institutions -- was 124.6 trillion yen (18.5 billion banknotes). If these banknotes were stacked up, they would reach a height of approximately 1,854 kilometers -- equivalent to 491 times the height of Mount Fuji (3,776 meters). If placed side by side, the banknotes would reach a length of around 2.89 million kilometers -- long enough to circle the globe about 72 times, or eight times the distance from the earth to the moon.

Related Pages

The amount of banknotes and coins in circulation is released every month as Currency in Circulation, and the data are available at BOJ Time-Series Data Search.