Metrication

World map, colour-coded to show the years the countries started the process of official conversion to the metric system. Using data from PhD thesis by Hector Vera and NIST.

Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement.[1] All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional units of measurement to the metric system. This process began in France during the 1790s, and has persistently advanced over two centuries, accumulating into 95% of the world officially only using the modern metric system.[2] Nonetheless, this also highlights that certain countries and sectors are either still transitioning or have chosen not to fully adopt the metric system.

  1. ^ "Metrication". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Vera, Hector (2012). The Social Life of Measures Metrication in the United States and Mexico, 1789–2004 (Thesis). p. 49, ch 2. ProQuest 924487292.