In 2026, the United States will end production of the one cent coin for circulation. While this decision has been met with both joy and criticism, this isn’t the first time the nation’s lowest denomination has been made obsolete by the United States. However, it is the first time in this century, and public memory doesn’t generally reach that far back to remember. Yet in many other countries around the world, their lowest denominations have been phased out and removed from circulation, as the United States one cent coin will be next year.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland are several European nations that ended their low-denomination coinage. Using Norway as a case study, we can see what happened and reaction, because history often repeats itself.
Norway’s coinage in 1970 consisted of eight coins, on the system of the Krone. The krone was the full unit with the Øre being the decimals. The coinage consisted of five and one krone coins along with 50, 25, 10, five, two, and one Øre coinage. The currency had been stable and had been fixed with an official exchange rate of one United States Dollar worth 7.14 Norway krone. This fixed exchange would end for Norway after the Bretton Woods system began to collapse with President Richard Nixon ending the gold convertibility of United States dollars in 1971. As a result, Norway began a floating exchange of currency in December of 1972, with the new exchange at 6.905 krone to the United States dollar.
1972 Norway would end production of their two smallest denominations of circulating coinage, the Øre and two Øre. The coins faced many of the same challenges that the United States cent also faced. These included high production, handling, and shipping costs, along with the inflation that occurred in the 1970s saw the purchasing power negligible. One krone was worth about 16 cents in United States dollars in 1972, with the Øre being $0.001614 in United States dollars. For context, a piece of candy in 1972 was between 10 to 25 Øre in cost. The public reaction was mostly positive. Purchases were rounded up to the nearest 5 Øre.
In 1982, Norway ended production of the 5 Øre and 25 Øre coins as well. With Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rising from 3.5% in 1970 to 7.2% in 1972 the currency value errored. With the 1973 oil crisis, the Norway CPI hit 11.7% in 1975. In 1981, the inflation peaked at 13.6%. The cumulative inflation from 1972 to 1982 was about 130%, which meant that the 5 Øre purchasing power was equal to 2.2 Øre purchasing power in 1972. Cash would be rounded to the nearest 10 Øre starting in 1983. With the rounding, the 25 Øre wasn’t needed anymore since the system was now in decimals of 10. The 10 Øre coin ended in 1991. With that, the prices were rounded to the nearest 50 Øre. The 50 Øre would also end production in 2011, with prices being rounded to the nearest krone.
While their production had stopped, the coins remained valid for a time period. The one Øre and two Øre coins were allowed to circulate for 20 years until 1992, when they were demonetized. The five Øre was demonetized in 2012 allowing it to stay valid for 31 years after its production ended. The 10 Øre was demonetized in 1993 just two years after its production ended. Finally the 50 Øre remained valid for only one year and was demonetized in 2012.
While Norway is just one example of a country that ended its coinage production, there is no guarantee that the United States will follow the same path. But often, if history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, it certainly seems to rhyme from time to time. So, the coming years could be interesting for monetary usage and reform in the United States.