Numismatic Reference · Hungary · Hyperinflation

Hungary 1946: The Worst Hyperinflation in History, and the Banknote With 20 Zeros

Zimbabwe gets the fame. Weimar gets the textbooks. But the most extreme monetary collapse ever recorded happened in Hungary in the summer of 1946 — and it produced the highest-denomination banknote ever issued.

How bad was Hungary's 1946 hyperinflation, exactly?

Numbers this large stop meaning anything without translation, so translate: at the July 1946 peak, prices doubled about every 15 hours. A bill left in a drawer on Monday morning bought half as much by Monday night, a quarter as much by Tuesday afternoon. Over the full episode, the total price level multiplied by roughly 3 × 10²⁵ — the general price index, set at 1 in August 1945, stood in the septillions eleven months later. No other episode, not Zimbabwe in 2008 (prices doubling every 24.7 hours) and not Weimar Germany in 1923 (every 3.7 days), has come close.

The causes were brutally concrete: Hungary emerged from World War II with roughly 40% of its national wealth destroyed, its industry stripped, reparations owed, and a government that chose the printing press as its only working source of finance. What makes the episode singular is the speed with which the arithmetic ran away — and the increasingly desperate inventions the National Bank deployed to keep up.

What are pengő, milpengő, and b.-pengő?

This is the part collectors love, because it's written on the notes themselves. When denominations grew too long to print, Hungary twice redefined the unit rather than the number:

Pengő

The base currency, introduced 1927. Hyperinflation-era notes run from modest denominations up to 10 million pengő.

Milpengő

One million pengő. A "10,000 milpengő" note is 10 billion pengő wearing a shorter name.

B.-pengő (bilpengő)

One trillion (10¹²) pengő. The final circulating series. The 100 million b.-pengő note of July 1946 is therefore 100,000,000 × 1,000,000,000,000 = 10²⁰ pengő — one hundred quintillion, the highest face value ever released into circulation.

Adópengő

A separate indexed "tax pengő" unit created so the state could still collect taxes in something with stable value; adópengő notes circulated in the final weeks and are a collectible sub-series of their own.

Hungary printed a note worth one sextillion pengő — 10²¹ — and never issued it. The currency died before the ink mattered.

That unissued 1 milliárd b.-pengő (one billion trillion) note exists in surviving examples and is the white whale of the series: the largest denomination ever printed, edged out of circulation by the reform that killed the pengő entirely.

Key denominations of the 1945–46 series

A quirk collectors should know: because the notes stayed in circulation only weeks and savings in pengő became worthless (leaving no reason to hoard), surviving examples range from ragged to remarkably crisp — printings late in the collapse barely circulated at all.

How did it end?

On August 1, 1946, Hungary introduced the forint at a conversion rate of 400 octillion (4 × 10²⁹) pengő to one forint — a number chosen less as an exchange rate than as an obituary. The entire pengő money supply, every note in the country, converted to a fraction of one U.S. cent. Stabilization was immediate and, remarkably, it held; the forint remains Hungary's currency eighty years later. For collectors this ending matters: the supply of 1945–46 notes was frozen in that single week and has only shrunk since.

Frequently asked questions

Was Hungary's hyperinflation worse than Zimbabwe's?

Yes, by the standard measures. Hungary's peak monthly rate (~41.9 quadrillion percent, prices doubling every ~15 hours) exceeds Zimbabwe's November 2008 peak (~89.7 sextillion percent monthly is the headline figure, but with prices doubling every ~24.7 hours — a slower doubling time, which is the cleaner comparison).

What is the highest-denomination banknote ever printed?

Hungary's 1946 one milliárd b.-pengő (10²¹ pengő), printed but never issued. The highest denomination actually circulated is the 100 million b.-pengő (10²⁰ pengő). Zimbabwe's famous $100 trillion (10¹⁴) is a full million times smaller in face value.

How much are 1946 pengő notes worth today?

Common circulated milpengő and b.-pengő notes are among the most affordable pieces of "impossible number" history — often under $20. High-grade examples of the largest denominations, adópengő issues, and certified notes command substantially more.

Why did people keep accepting pengő at all?

Largely because wages were paid in it and law required its acceptance — but in practice Hungarians spent money within hours of receiving it, and barter, hard goods, and the indexed adópengő carried much of the real economy by mid-1946.

Do Hungarian hyperinflation notes pair well with a Zimbabwe collection?

They're the natural pairing: the all-time record holder next to the modern icon. A three-note frame of a 1923 German 100 trillion mark, a 1946 Hungarian b.-pengő, and a 2008 Zimbabwe $100 trillion tells the whole century of monetary collapse in one glance.

Sources

• Hanke, S. & Krus, N., World Hyperinflations, Cato Institute Working Paper (2012)
• Grossman, P. & Horváth, J., "The Dynamics of the Hungarian Hyperinflation, 1945–6," Journal of European Economic History
• Standard Catalog of World Paper Money (Pick), Hungary listings, 1945–46 issues