| A total of 447,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were seized during the second half of last year under review, up 8 per cent on the first half of 2009 when 413,000 euro notes were withdrawn from circulation.
Overall, some 860,000 notes were seized last year compared to 666,000 in 2008 and 561,000 in 2007. Nonetheless, the ECB stressed that with an average of 12.8 billion euro banknotes in circulation during the second half of 2009), the proportion of counterfeits is still very low. The E20 banknote remains the most counterfeited denomination, accounting for almost half of all counterfeits identified during the last six months of 2009. The second most counterfeited denomination was the E50 banknote, which accounted for approximately one-third of the total. The three mid-range denominations (E20, E50 and E100) together accounted for 97 per cent of all counterfeits. | 
Number of fake banknotes on the rise