Your money is losing value.
Every single day.

Central banks create new money. Prices rise. Your savings, salary and future quietly shrink. This page shows the numbers for the euro area, for featured countries and a full list of sixteen.

Euro Area M3 €17.61 trillion +3.4% YoY
Purchasing power loss (since 2015) 18.3% to 43.5% HICP as of July 2026 (2026 = Jan–Jul)

ECB M3 snapshot as of July 2026. Not a live feed.

Euro Area – The big picture

The European Central Bank controls the euro. When the money supply (M3) grows faster than the real economy, every euro – and every currency pegged to it – loses purchasing power.

Euro Area Money Supply (M3)

Source: ECB M3 snapshot, as of July 2026 (not a live feed)

M3 in euros, and in 2015 euros

The upper line is euro-area M3 outstanding amounts. The lower line is that stock deflated with euro-area HICP to 2015 euros. The fill is the gap. Snapshot, not a live feed. Not a forecast.

ECB M3 outstanding amounts (December year-end; 2026 is July) and Eurostat HICP annual averages (2026 is January–July mean). The deflator is an annual average, so it is not month-matched to the December stock. Methodology.

Purchasing Power of €100

Source: Eurostat HICP snapshot, as of July 2026 (not a live feed). Stacking planner — a monthly saving versus purchasing-power loss, same HICP snapshot.

What €100 still buys

The 2026 bar is euro-area HICP purchasing power versus 2015. Same snapshot as the chart above. Not a live feed. Not a picture of a real banknote.

  1. €100 in 2015

  2. €100 in 2026

Compare what €100 still buys across sixteen countries.

The same basket, a higher till

A euro-area all-items HICP basket that cost €100 in 2015 costs this much at the 2026 year-to-date average. Same snapshot as the chart. Not a list of groceries. Not a live feed.

2015 —
2026 —
Extra to pay —

How much new euro is created each month?

Over the 12 months to July 2026, euro-area M3 grew by €684.95 billion (change in outstanding amounts, not the sum of the monthly transaction bars). The bars below are ECB financial transactions; they do not add up to €684.95 billion, because revaluations and exchange-rate effects sit in the gap.

Euro-area M3 since you opened this page

€0

Pace from the ECB M3 snapshot as of July 2026. Not a live feed. Methodology.

Monthly M3 financial transactions (€ billion)

Source: ECB M3 financial transactions (flows) snapshot, as of July 2026 (not a live feed)

Where does the new money go first?

New money does not appear evenly in everyone’s account. It enters primarily through commercial bank lending and residual central-bank operations. The first recipients are banks, large asset holders and governments (lower funding costs). This is the Cantillon effect: those closest to the money creation spend it before prices have fully adjusted.

Who pays the price?

Wage earners, savers and people on fixed incomes see their purchasing power eroded as the extra money circulates and bids up prices of housing, food, energy and assets. The loss is quiet and continuous — exactly what the charts on this site illustrate.

Country deep-dives

Click a country to see national debt, inflation history, purchasing power loss and how it relates to the euro.

🇩🇪 Germany Euro core. Full exposure to ECB policy. 🇬🇷 Greece Highest Maastricht debt ratio in the EU. 🇩🇰 Denmark Krone pegged to the euro. Still loses purchasing power. 🇭🇺 Hungary Own currency. Worst purchasing-power loss of the sixteen.

Sixteen country pages, grouped by regime. All countries

Sixteen countries compared

Same committed snapshot for all sixteen countries — not a live feed. What €100 still buys is ranked on the countries index, from the same HICP snapshot.

Debt % of GDP and purchasing-power loss since 2015. Committed snapshot.
Country Regime Debt % of GDP PP loss since 2015
Hungary Own currency 77.7% 43.5%
Romania Own currency 60.1% 41.4%
Poland Own currency 61.6% 36.6%
Austria Euro 83.3% 29.7%
Belgium Euro 109.1% 27.9%
Netherlands Euro 43.8% 27.8%
Germany Euro 64.4% 25.7%
Sweden Own currency 34.9% 25.0%
Spain Euro 101.6% 23.1%
Portugal Euro 91.0% 21.6%
Italy Euro 138.9% 21.2%
France Euro 117.5% 21.0%
Greece Euro 143.5% 20.9%
Ireland Euro 37.0% 20.0%
Finland Euro 89.7% 19.7%
Denmark Pegged to euro 26.8% 18.3%

Debt: Eurostat Q1 2026 Maastricht, except France (INSEE, same Maastricht definition). Purchasing-power loss: 100 minus the latest HICP PP point in the committed snapshot, as of July 2026 (2026 = Jan–Jul). Not a live feed. Methodology.

Why this matters

1. Hidden tax

When the money supply grows, the value of existing money falls. This transfers wealth from savers and wage earners to those who receive the new money first (governments, banks, asset owners).

The tax that never hits your payslip

Type a euro amount (cash or monthly pay). The deduction uses euro-area HICP purchasing power versus 2015, the same snapshot as the purchasing-power chart. Example amount only. Not an official wage. Not financial advice.

Example only. Not an official salary.

This amount —
Hidden tax since 2015 (HICP) —
What it still buys in 2015 euros —

Eurostat HICP snapshot, as of July 2026 (not a live feed). 2026 is the year-to-date average of published months. Methodology.

2. You can never escape

Inflation and debt-based money force most people to keep working their entire lives just to maintain their standard of living. The system is designed so that the majority stays dependent on wages while governments and the already-wealthy capture the newly created money.

3. Hard money alternative

Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million. No central bank can create more. That is why many people track prices in sats (satoshis) instead of euros or kroner.

Protect yourself. Take self-custody.

Buying Bitcoin is only the first step. If it sits on an exchange, you still rely on someone else.

A hardware wallet lets you hold your own keys. Blockstream Jade is currently one of the best options: fully open-source, air-gapped, and built for Bitcoin.

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