Countries that Use Pounds 2025

The Pound Sterling (GBP) is a unit of currency, similar to the dollar, franc, or rupee, that is the primary form of legal tender in the United Kingdom and its territories. One of the world’s most valuable currencies, the British pound is also referred to as the sterling or (informally) a quid. When written, pound amounts are preceded by the symbol £. However, just as several countries in the Americas have their own version of the peso, several African and Middle Eastern countries also utilize a unit of currency known as a pound.

While the majority of British pounds are minted by the Bank of England, certain territories and regions are authorized to print their own versions of the pound sterling. As a result, each of the following locations uses its own local version of the pound: Scotland; Northern Ireland; the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man (where local pounds are used alongside GBP); and a handful of British Overseas Territories (South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Saint Helena & Ascension, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands).

Countries and Territories That Use Pounds As Their Primary Currency

Country/Territory	Currency	$1 USD (17 Nov 2022) =
British Antarctic Territory	Pound sterling (GBP)	0.84 GBP
British Indian Ocean Territory	Pound sterling (GBP)	0.84 GBP
Egypt	Egyptian pound (EGP)	24.51 EGP
Falkland Islands	Falkland Islands pound (FKP)*	0.84 FKP
Gibraltar	Gibraltar pound (GIP)*	0.84 GIP
Guernsey	Guernsey pound (GGP)*	0.84 GBP/GGP
	Pound sterling (GBP)
Isle of Man	Manx pound (IMP)*	0.84 GBP/IMP
	Pound sterling (GBP)
Jersey	Jersey pound (JEP)*	0.84 GBP/JEP
	Pound sterling (GBP)
Lebanon	Lebanese pound (LBP)	1507.50 LBP
Saint Helena & Ascension	Saint Helenian pound (SHP)	0.84 SHP*
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands	Falkland Islands pound (FKP)*	0.84 FKP
South Sudan	South Sudanese pound (SSP)	130.26 SSP
Sudan	Sudanese pound (SDG)	569.25 SDP
Syria	Syrian pound (SYP)	2512.51 SYP
Tristan de Cunha	Pound sterling (GBP)	0.84 GBP
United Kingdom	Pound sterling (GBP)	0.84 GBP

Notes: Currencies marked with * are pegged to the pound sterling and have the same monetary value, though they may not be accepted outside of their respective regions. GGP, IMP, and JEP are unofficial codes and may not appear on some lists of ISO codes.

Brief History of the Pound

The oldest currency still in constant use, the pound can trace its origins back to Anglo-Saxon England in the late ninth century (750-800), when 240 “sterlings” (pennies/pence) could be made from a “pound” of silver. After the Norman conquest of the 1060s-1080s, the value of a pound was established to be 20 shillings (240 pence). This measurement system was an evolution of a system introduced to mainland Europe by the Roman Emperor Charlemagne.

British pound coins were first introduced in 1489, during the reign of King Henry VII. The pound was “decimalized” in 1971, replacing the previous “shillings and pence” system with a new penny valued at 1/100th of a pound (so that 100 pennies equal one pound). Notably, even when the majority of countries in the European Union (including the entire Eurozone) transitioned to the euro as its shared unit of currency, the UK chose to continue using the pound.

In addition to the countries that currently use the pound, a significant number of countries exist that have previously used the pound at some time in their history, but today use a different currency. For a full list of the countries that have used the pound in the past, consult the table at the end of this page.

Profiles: Countries whose Main Currency is the Pound

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the most prominent country that uses pounds as its main form of currency, and the British pound sterling (GBP) is both the best-known pound and one of the most widely exchanged currencies in the world. As of October 2022, the pound sterling was the fourth-most-traded currency in the world, following the United States dollar, the EU euro, and the Japanese yen. Banknotes (paper bills) of pounds sterling appear in four denominations and colors: £5 (turquoise), £10 (orange), £20 (purple), & £50 (red) and feature a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front, with portraits of Winston Churchill £5, Jane Austen, J.M.W. Turner, and Alan Turing on the reverse sides.

Pounds Sterling Banknotes

Denomination	Color	Front portrait	Flipside portrait
£5	Turquoise	Queen Elizabeth II	Winston Churchill
£10	Orange	Queen Elizabeth II	Jane Austen
£20	Purple	Queen Elizabeth II	J.M.W. Turner
£50	Red	Queen Elizabeth II	Alan Turing

Egypt

The Egyptian Pound (abbreviated LE) was introduced in 1834 by order of a Persian khedive who was serving as the viceroy of Egypt at the time. Also called the geneih, the Egyptian pound supplanted Egyptian piastre as the country’s main currency, although piastres remained in circulation as well (valued at 1/100th of a pound). From the start of World War I until 1962, the Egyptian pound’s value was pegged to that of the pound sterling at 1EGP/1.06GBP. It was later pegged to the US dollar at 1EGP/2.30USD, but as of late 2022 is no longer fixed to any other currency.

Egyptian Pounds Banknotes

Denomination	Color	Front portrait	Flipside portrait
25 PT	Blue	Ayesha mosque	Egyptian coat of arms
50 PT	yellow-orange	Al-Azhar mosque	Ramsses II (pharaoh)
LE 1	brown/red	Qaitbay mosque	Statues at Abu Simbel temple
LE 5	Turquoise	Ibn Tulun mosque	Hapi (Egyptian god)
LE 10	Orange-red	Al-Fattah Al-Aleem mosque	Pyramid and death mask
LE 20	Green	Alabaster mosque	War chariot
LE 50	blue-rust	Abu Hurayba mosque	Temple of Edfu
LE 100	turquoise-brown	Sultan Hassan mosque	Great Sphinx of Giza
LE 200	olive-pine green-red	Qani-Bay mosque	Seated Scribe sculpture

Gibraltar

The Gibraltar pound is used only in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and is designated by the abbreviation GIP. Prior to the introduction of the Gibraltar pound, the territory used the Spanish Real up to 1927. Gibraltar pound banknotes share many elements with pound sterling banknotes, though their color/denomination pairs and rear panel portraits differ significantly.

Gibraltar Pounds Banknotes

Denomination	Color	Front portrait	Flipside portrait
£5	Green	Queen Elizabeth II	Moorish castle
£10	Blue	Queen Elizabeth II	John Trumbull’s “The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar”
£20	Orange	Queen Elizabeth II	HMS Victory after Battle of Trafalgar
£50	Red	Queen Elizabeth II	Buildings in Grand Casemates Square
£100	Purple	Queen Elizabeth II	King’s Bastion fortifications

Lebanon

The Lebanese pound was first issued in 1925 and is designated by the abbreviations LBP or LL (the latter being a reflection of the currency’s alternate name, the lira). Lebanon used the Turkish pound before World War I, then switched briefly to the Egyptian pound in 1918, before France helped launch new currency for both Lebanon and Syria (the Syrian pound). The Lebanese pound was officially decoupled from Syria’s pound in 1939. Lebanese pound coins are issued in values from LBP 25 to LBP 500, and banknotes have values ranging from LBP 1,000 to LBP 100,000.

Sudan

Both Sudan and South Sudan, which separated from one another in 2011, use a form of pounds as their main currency. The first Sudanese pound (abbrev. SDP) was issued in 1956, before the two countries split, and replaced the Egyptian pound. This pound was itself replaced by the dinar in 1992. However, a new Sudanese pound (SDG) was introduced in 2007, then reworked in 2011 upon the secession of South Sudan. Additional bills in higher denominations were released in 2019.

Sudanese Pounds (SDG) Banknotes

Denomination	Color	Front image	Reverse image	Date issued
LS 2	Olive-tan, red, brown	Pottery	Musical instruments	June 2011
LS 5	Gray, red, green	Architecture & satellite	Dam, windmill, electricity tower	June 2011
LS 10	Green, blue	Tree & camel	Presidential Palace in Khartoum	June 2011
LS 20	Brown, red, gray	Wooden gears & oil derrick	Factory, fruit, satellite dish	June 2011
LS 50	Brown, green, red, gray	Elephants, rhino, giraffe	Camels, goat, ram, bull	June 2011
LS 50	Red, blue, purple	Gold bars & building	Camels, boat, fisherman	Apr. 2018
LS 100	Tan, red, gray	Pyramids	Hydroelectric dam	Jan. 2019
LS 200	Olive, blue, tan	Waterfall, lake, birds	Fish and coral	Feb. 2019
LS 200	Red, tan, blue-gray	Woman, hut, buildings	People with hands clasped	Aug. 2019
LS 500	Purple, pink, gray	Satellite dishes & tower	Refinery	Mar. 2019
LS 1000	Blue, green, turquoise	Grain elevator and silos	Waterfall, lake, farmers plowing	June 2019

South Sudan

Upon seceding from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan established its own version of the pound. Every South Sudanese pound (SSP) banknote features a portrait of Dr. John Garang de Mabior, who led the country’s independence movement, on the front side; and a wildlife image on the other side. South Sudan issues pound notes across a very wide range of denominations, from SSP 0.05 to SSP 1,000.

South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) Banknotes

Denomination	Color	Reverse image
SSP 0.05	Olive/gray/tan	Ostrich
SSP 0.10	Green/yellow	Kudu
SSP 0.25	Red/pink	River
SSP 1	Green/gray/aqua	Giraffes
SSP 5	Red/gray/orange	Aliab Dinka cattle
SSP 10	Pine green/gray/olive	Cape buffalo, pineapple
SSP 20	Red/orange/gray	Oryx
SSP 50	Purple/pink/gray/orange	Elephants
SSP 100	Blue/gray/green/orange	Lion
SSP 500	Olive/gray/orange	River
SSP 1000	Maroon/gray/orange	Ostrich

Syria

Syria first replaced the Ottoman lira with the Egyptian pound as its currency in 1919, under the guidance of France, which occupied Syria after World War I. This was replaced in 1924 by the Syro-Lebanese pound, which was used by both Syria and Lebanon. The split into two separate currencies came in 1937. The Syrian pound (SYP) has lost considerable value since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011. In March 2011, the SYP exchange rate with the US dollar was 47:1 (meaning 1 USD was the equivalent of 47 SYP). In November 2022, the ratio was 2513:1, and had been notably lower earlier in the year.