Yemen Banknotes: History, Notable Notes and Collecting Guide
Few modern currencies tell a stranger story than the Yemeni rial. Within living memory Yemen was two separate countries with two separate monies, and today a single national currency circulates as if it were two, with older and newer notes changing hands at different rates. That divided history is exactly what makes Yemeni notes such a compelling country to collect.
Last updated: July 2026
The Yemeni rial is the national currency of Yemen, issued by the Central Bank of Yemen and technically divided into 100 fils. What makes its banknotes collectible is history rather than face value. Yemen was two countries until 1990, with a North Yemeni rial in the north and a separate South Yemeni dinar in the south, and the two monetary systems merged only after unification. Since the war that began in 2015 the currency has fractured again in an unusual way, with notes printed in different years now trading as though they were different money. This guide walks through those eras, the notes collectors seek, and how to start a Yemen collection.
What is the history of the Yemeni rial?
The rial's roots run deep in the north. For generations the great silver coin of Yemeni trade was the Maria Theresa thaler, carried in through the Mocha coffee ports and used long after it stopped being minted for its original issuer. The Yemen Arab Republic, or North Yemen, introduced its first paper money in 1964 with 1, 5, and 10 rial notes, and the Central Bank of Yemen was established on 27 July 1971 with its headquarters in Sana'a. The northern rial was historically divided into 40 buqsha before the country moved to a decimal system of 100 fils in the mid-1970s.
The south followed a different path. The port of Aden and its hinterland spent decades under British control, and after independence the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, or South Yemen, used the South Yemeni dinar rather than the rial. The dinar was a separate, higher-value currency with its own designs, and the socialist republic that issued it gave its notes a look distinct from anything in the north. For more than two decades the two Yemens ran two entirely separate currencies.
Unification changed that. The Republic of Yemen was declared on 22 May 1990, and the Yemeni rial replaced the North Yemeni rial at par. For a transitional period both the rial and the southern dinar remained legal tender, with the dinar valued at 26 rials, until the dinar was finally withdrawn from circulation on 11 June 1996. Through the 1990s and 2000s the unified Central Bank of Yemen issued a growing family of rial notes as prices rose, adding a 200 rial note in 1996, a 500 in 1997, a 1,000 in 1998, and a 250 in 2009.
The modern story is dominated by the war that began in 2015. As the conflict spread, oil exports collapsed, government revenue evaporated, and the central bank's foreign reserves ran down, sending the rial into a long fall. According to Xinhua reporting in 2025, the rial traded near 215 to the US dollar as the conflict erupted in early 2015 and had weakened past 2,700 to the dollar in government-held areas by mid-2025. This is a severe wartime currency collapse rather than one of the record hyperinflations of the modern era. For where the worst cases sit, see every hyperinflation ranked.
Why are there two Yemeni rials today?
Yemen's most unusual monetary feature is that the same currency now behaves as two. After the internationally recognized government relocated the Central Bank of Yemen to Aden in 2016, it began issuing new rial banknotes printed abroad. According to the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies, the Houthi authorities who control Sana'a and much of the north banned the use of these newer notes in the areas they hold in December 2019, declaring them illegal. Old notes printed before the split and newer notes printed after it stopped being interchangeable. In practice the older notes circulating in the north have held their value far better, while the newer notes used in the south carry the brunt of the devaluation. The result is a rare living example of a single national currency divided by nothing more than the year a note was printed, and it is one of the details that draws collectors to modern Yemeni paper.
What are the most collectible Yemeni banknotes?
The most sought-after Yemeni notes are the ones tied to a turning point: the early paper money of North Yemen, the distinctive dinar notes of the socialist south, the founding notes of the unified republic, and the modern issues that document the war-era split. The table below groups the main eras a collector will encounter. It stays general by design, and Planet Banknote never invents catalog numbers, mintages, or prices.
| Era or note | Period | Hallmark | Why collectors want it |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic) rial notes | 1964 to 1990 | The first paper money of the north, issued by the Yemen Currency Board and then the Central Bank of Yemen from 1971 | The founding paper of the northern rial, and the start of Yemeni banknote history. |
| South Yemen dinar notes | 1960s to 1990 | Issued by the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in a separate, higher-value dinar with socialist-era designs | Paper from a country that no longer exists, and a currency withdrawn in 1996. |
| Early unified Republic rial | 1990s to 2000s | The first notes of a single Yemen, growing from small denominations up to the 1,000 rial of 1998 | The founding paper of the modern unified currency. |
| War and split-era issues | 2017 onward | Redesigned high denominations printed abroad after the central bank moved to Aden, later banned in the Houthi-held north | The paper record of the currency split and the war-era devaluation. |
The South Yemen dinar notes and the split-era issues are the two chapters most tied to Yemen's unusual story. The dinar is money from a socialist republic that vanished at unification, while the post-2017 notes document a currency that was cut in two while still in daily use. Set beside an early North Yemen rial from the 1960s, they capture the whole arc of Yemeni money.
How do you start collecting Yemeni banknotes?
Start by deciding which chapter of the story you want to hold. A single well-chosen note from each era, an early North Yemen rial, a South Yemen dinar, an early unified rial, and a modern war-era issue, tells the whole story for very little money. Many of the later notes survive in bundles and reach the market in crisp Uncirculated condition, the top of the grade ladder that runs UNC, AU, XF, VF, F, VG, G. The older North Yemen and South Yemen notes are scarcer and usually circulated, so condition and authenticity matter more. For independent confirmation, look for notes graded by PMG or PCGS on the 1 to 70 scale. Our banknote grading guide explains what those numbers mean, and the banknote glossary defines the terms you will meet along the way.
Where can you buy Yemeni banknotes?
Buy from a source-first dealer that documents where its notes come from and stands behind authenticity. Planet Banknote stocks Yemeni notes across the North Yemen, South Yemen, unified republic, and war eras rather than fixing a single market price, since inventory and grades change. You can browse the current selection here:
Every note passes our Planet Banknote Verified inspection and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity, so you have documented recourse tied to a named, reachable business. Whichever era you start with, a Yemeni note is a small, holdable piece of one of the most divided monetary histories of the modern Middle East.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Yemeni rial?
The Yemeni rial is the national currency of Yemen, issued by the Central Bank of Yemen and technically divided into 100 fils, though fils coins have not circulated since unification. Its history is unusually divided: North Yemen used a rial and South Yemen used a separate dinar until the two countries united in 1990, and since the war that began in 2015 the currency has split again, with older and newer notes trading at different values in different parts of the country. For collectors the appeal is that history rather than face value.
What happened to North and South Yemen's currencies?
Before 1990, North Yemen (the Yemen Arab Republic) used the North Yemeni rial and South Yemen (the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen) used a separate, higher-value dinar. When the Republic of Yemen was declared on 22 May 1990, the Yemeni rial replaced the North Yemeni rial at par. For a transitional period both the rial and the southern dinar remained legal tender, with the dinar valued at 26 rials, until the dinar was withdrawn from circulation on 11 June 1996. South Yemeni dinar notes are paper from a country that no longer exists.
Why are there two different Yemeni rials today?
After the internationally recognized government relocated the Central Bank of Yemen to Aden in 2016, it began issuing new rial banknotes printed abroad. According to the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies, the Houthi authorities who control Sana'a banned the use of these newer notes in the areas they hold in December 2019, declaring them illegal. Older notes printed before the split and newer notes printed after it stopped being interchangeable, and in practice the older notes circulating in the north have held their value far better than the newer notes used in the south. It is a rare living example of a single national currency divided by the year a note was printed.
Why did the Yemeni rial lose so much value?
The rial collapsed during the war that began in 2015. The halt of oil exports, the loss of government revenue, the depletion of the central bank's foreign reserves, and the split of the central bank into rival institutions all drove the currency down. According to Xinhua reporting in 2025, the rial traded near 215 to the US dollar as the conflict erupted in early 2015 and had weakened past 2,700 to the dollar in government-held areas by mid-2025. This was a severe wartime currency collapse rather than one of the record hyperinflations of the modern era.
Are Yemeni banknotes legal to own and collect?
Yes. In the United States, foreign banknotes such as Yemeni rial and old South Yemeni dinar notes are legal to own and collect. Demonetized notes such as the South Yemeni dinar are no longer legal tender and cannot be spent, so their value comes entirely from collector demand. This is general information rather than legal advice, and rules differ by country, so check your local law if you are unsure.
Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.