Billions (long Scale) to Billions (short Scale) (billion to B)
1 billion (long scale) equals 1,000 billions (short scale) exactly.
How to convert billions (long scale) to billions (short scale)
To convert billions (long scale) to billions (short scale), multiply the number of billions (long scale) by 1,000. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply billions (short scale) by 0.001.
billions (short scale) = billions (long scale) × 1,000
Example: 10 billions (long scale) = 10,000 billions (short scale).
Large-number names differ around the world: this site uses the short scale (billion = 10⁹) by default, and lists the long-scale billion separately.
About these units
Billion (long Scale) (billion)
One million million (10¹²). The traditional British meaning, still used in much of continental Europe (e.g. German Billion). UK government usage switched to the short scale in 1974.
The long-scale billion is the older meaning, a million million, 10¹². The word was formed from million with the prefix bi-, so it named the second power of a million. The Oxford English Dictionary dates it to the 16th century, and French writers had already used bymillion in 1475 and byllion in 1484. On the long scale each new name is a million times the last: million, billion, trillion at 10¹⁸, with the 10¹⁵ step called a billiard.
Britain used this sense as its most common one until the 1950s, when the short scale began spreading through technical writing and journalism, and the government formally adopted the short scale in 1974. France reverted to the long scale in 1948. Today the long scale is used in continental Europe, French Canada, and the Spanish-speaking Americas, so the same word can mean either 10¹² or 10⁹ depending on the language, and a long-scale billion is 1,000 short-scale billions.
1 billion (long scale) = 1,000,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Long and short scales; Wikipedia: Billion; Hansard, 20 Dec 1974: Billion (Definition), written answer
Billion (short Scale) (B)
One thousand million (10⁹). The meaning used in the US, UK and most English-speaking countries today.
For decades British and American speakers meant different things by billion. The short-scale sense, a thousand million, took hold in the United States in the 19th century, while Britain kept the older meaning of a million million. From the 1950s the short scale spread through British technical writing and journalism, and Winston Churchill had remarked in 1941 that for practical financial purposes a billion was a thousand millions.
The official break came on December 20, 1974. Asked in Parliament whether ministers would be required to use the traditional British meaning, Prime Minister Harold Wilson answered no, explaining that billion was now used internationally for 1,000 million and that using it any other way would cause confusion. He conceded it could still be read as a million million and asked colleagues to avoid ambiguity. Today a billion is 10⁹, matching the SI prefix giga, and the UN projected that world population would reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022.
1 billion (short scale) = 1,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Hansard, 20 Dec 1974: Billion (Definition), written answer; Wikipedia: Billion; United Nations: Day of Eight Billion
Related conversions
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- Hundred to billions (short scale)
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- Trillions (short scale) to billions (short scale)
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See all counting & quantity units.