The 27 member states of the European Union
The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states. This reference lists every member with its capital city, the year it joined, and whether it uses the euro or a national currency, plus a live search and eurozone filter.
How it works
Each country is tagged with its accession year (when it joined the EU or its predecessor the EEC) and a euro flag. The eurozone — the subset using the euro as legal tender — currently has 20 of the 27 members. Filtering toggles between all states, euro users only, and national-currency users only, and the search box matches on both country name and capital.
Enlargement waves — how the EU grew to 27
The EU’s membership grew in distinct waves, each with its own geopolitical context:
1958 — The six founders: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands. Founded as the European Economic Community (EEC) under the Treaty of Rome.
1973 — Northern enlargement: Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The UK later left in 2020 (Brexit).
1981 and 1986 — Southern enlargement: Greece (1981), then Spain and Portugal (1986), as these countries transitioned from authoritarian rule to democracy.
1995 — EFTA enlargement: Austria, Finland, and Sweden, three EFTA states that opted for full membership.
2004 — Eastern enlargement: Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined simultaneously in the EU’s largest single enlargement.
2007 — Bulgaria and Romania.
2013 — Croatia, the most recent member, joined in 2013 and adopted the euro in 2023.
The eurozone vs. non-euro members
20 of the 27 EU members use the euro. The seven that do not:
| Country | Currency | Opt-out status |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | Bulgarian lev | Legally committed to join when criteria met |
| Czechia | Czech koruna | Legally committed, no target date |
| Denmark | Danish krone | Formal opt-out negotiated in 1992 |
| Hungary | Hungarian forint | Legally committed, no target date |
| Poland | Polish złoty | Legally committed, no target date |
| Romania | Romanian leu | Legally committed, working toward criteria |
| Sweden | Swedish krona | No opt-out, but Swedes rejected the euro in a 2003 referendum |
Denmark is the only member with a formal treaty-level opt-out; Sweden has no legal opt-out but has declined to join, a position tolerated in practice.
Practical uses for this reference
Developers and compliance teams reach for this list when:
- Validating VAT registration against EU membership status
- Filtering payment-method logic by eurozone vs. non-euro countries
- Building region selectors that need to distinguish EU from non-EU European countries
- Checking which data-protection regime (GDPR) applies (all 27 EU members plus the broader EEA, which includes Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein)