And some people say that the cent is useless...

There has been discussion in the news about the usefulness of the cent coin. The cost to make a cent coin in the US has exceeded the value of the cent for several years now. Several nations in the Euro zone have effectively eliminated the 1 and 2 euro cent from use. Eventually the US cent will go away as well.

Below is a photo of a 5-cent coin from the nation of Mauritius, a small island to the east of Madagascar, that is still in circulation today. It is a copper plated steel coin that is slightly larger than the US cent coin. The main unit of money in Mauritius is the Rupee which has been worth about 3.3 US cents for the last nine years. With 20 of the 5-cent coins making a Rupee, each Mauritian 5-cent coin is worth about one-sixth of a US cent!