Conversion process

The metric system was officially introduced in France in December 1799. In the 19th century, the metric system was adopted by almost all European countries: Portugal (1814);^[27] Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (1820); Switzerland (1835); Spain (1850s); Italy (1861); Germany (1870, legally from 1 January 1872);^[28] and Austria-Hungary (1876, but the law was adopted in 1871).^[29] Thailand did not formally adopt the metric system until 1923, but the Royal Thai Survey Department used it for cadastral survey as early as 1896.^[30] Denmark and Iceland adopted the metric system in 1907.

Chronology and status of conversion by country

This section may overuse or misuse color, making it hard to understand for color-blind users. The red-green gradient in the map makes it unusable by colorblind individuals. Please remove or fix instances of distracting or hard-to-read colors. See the category page and WP:COLOR for guidelines. (November 2014)

Countries by date of metrication. Colours red to green show the pattern of metrication from 1795 to 1998. Black identifies countries that have not adopted the metric system as the primary measurement system. White identifies countries that already used the metric system at the time they gained their independence.

Countries by current metrication status:

  Complete

  Almost Complete

  Partially Complete

  Little Adoption

Links in the country point to articles about metrication in that country.^[31]

Year metrication process started[32][33][34]	Country	Previous system of measure	Status of metrication
1795	France	French	Complete
1814	Portugal[Note 1]	Portuguese	Complete
1820	Belgium	Various	Complete
1820	Netherlands	Dutch	Complete
1848	Chile	Spanish	Almost entirely complete
1852[35]	Mexico	Variants of Spanish	Complete (some national and regional units are still in use and some United States customary units also in use in some industries)
1852	Spain	Spanish	Complete, however many pre-metrics are still in use: for land - ferrado, fanega, atahúlla and quiñón; for weight - libra and arroba; for liquids - cuartilla; for screen sizes - pulgada (23 mm).
1861	Italy	Various	Complete
1862[36]	Brazil	Portuguese	Complete
1862	Peru	Spanish	Almost entirely complete
1863	Uruguay	Spanish	Complete
1864	Romania	Romanian	Complete
1868	North German Confederation	Various	Complete
1869	South German states	Various	Complete
1871	Austria	Various	Complete
1872[Note 2]	Germany	Various	Complete
1873[37]	Serbia	Various	Complete
1875	Ottoman Empire/Turkey	Ottoman	Complete
1875[38]	Norway	Norwegian	Complete
1876	Sweden	Swedish	Complete
1876	Switzerland	Various	Complete
1876	Hungary	Various	Complete
1885	Japan[39]	Japanese	Almost entirely complete
1886	Argentina	Spanish	Complete
1886[40]	Finland	Finnish	Complete
1899	Paraguay	Variants of Spanish	Complete
1907	Denmark	Danish	Complete
1907	Iceland	Icelandic / Danish	Complete
1907	Philippines	Spanish and own.	Almost entirely complete
1908	Costa Rica	Spanish	Complete
1912	Dominican Republic	Spanish	Complete
1918[41][42]	Russia	Russian	Complete
1923[43][44]	Thailand	Various	Almost entirely complete
1925	China	Chinese	Almost entirely complete
1929	Estonia	Estonian	Complete
1946	Indonesia	Various	Almost entirely complete
1954	India	Various	Complete
1954	Sudan	Various	Complete
1959[45]	Greece	Old Greek	Complete
1963	Laos	Unknown	Complete
1963	Vietnam	Vietnamese	Complete
1965[Note 3]	United Kingdom	Imperial	Partially complete
1967	Ireland	Imperial[Note 4]	Complete
1967	Pakistan	Imperial	Complete
1969	New Zealand	Imperial	Complete
1970	Australia	Imperial	Complete
1971	South Africa[Note 5]	Imperial	Complete
1972	Malaysia	Imperial and Malay	Partially complete
1973	Canada	Imperial	Partially complete
1975[Note 6][46]	United States of America	United States customary units	Some adoption[47]
1976[48]	Sri Lanka	Imperial	Almost entirely complete[49]
1998	Jamaica	Imperial	Partially complete
2005	Saint Lucia	Imperial	Complete
Indeterminate	Liberia[Note 7]	Imperial[46]	Some adoption[Note 8][50]
2011[Note 9][51] 2013[52]	Burma (Myanmar)	Burmese, Imperial[46]	Some adoption[53] Announcement of full metrication, with technical assistance from the German National Metrology Institute[54]