Countries That Dont Use the Metric System 2022

The metric system, renamed the International System of Units (SI), is a decimalized unit of measurement that is universally accepted. The metric system employs the meter, liter, and gram as length, capacity, weight, and mass units.




The length unit is the meter, the mass unit is the kilogram, the time unit is the second, the electrical current unit is the ampere, the temperature unit is the kelvin, the luminous intensity unit is the candela, and the quantity unit is the mole.

The meter is the foundation of all metric units. A gram is one cubic centimeter of water at its densest point, whereas a liter is one-thousandth of a cubic centimeter.

Greek prefixes are used to denote multiples of ten: deca (10), hecto (100), myria (10,000), and kilo (1,001). Submultiples (amounts smaller than one) are denoted by Latin prefixes: deci (0.1), centi (0.01), milli (0.001).

Following the French Revolution of 1789, the metric system was founded in France. The French National Assembly tasked the French Academy of Sciences with addressing and resolving the French system of weights and measures, which chose to base the system on a natural physical unit.

The Academy determined that a quadrant of the Earth’s great circle should be 1/10,000,000 (one ten-millionth) in length. The meter was created after a six-year study that generated a value of 39,37008 inches.

Between 1850 and 1900, the metric system exploded in popularity. The French chose to hand up management of the system to an international body, and in 1875, an International Bureau of Weights and Measures gathered in Paris to sign the Meter Treaty.




The convention, which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, was signed by forty nations, including the United States but not the United Kingdom.

At its introduction, the metric system encountered widespread resistance in every nation save the United States, which was eventually overcome.

The United States, Liberia, and Myanmar are the three nations on Earth that do not utilize the metric system as their official unit of measurement.

In the United States, the metric system is utilized, although it is not the official measuring system. The United States’ reluctance to completely embrace the metric system dates back to when the British invaded the New World, bringing with them the Imperial System.

Following independence, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson insisted on utilizing the imperial measuring system despite a proposal by Congress to switch to the metric system.

The American Colonization Society formed Liberia; hence, Liberia’s laws are based on the United States Constitution. Liberia continues to utilize the imperial measuring system due to the country’s strong ties to the United States. However, the government is currently converting to the metric system.

Myanmar isolated itself upon independence from the United Kingdom, and as a result, it never needed a common measuring system with the rest of the world. Myanmar is adopting the metric system, having previously used its indigenous units of measurement.




The United States is expected to become the world’s only nation that has not completely embraced the metric system.

Country2022 Population
Liberia5305.1170
Myanmar55227.1430
United States334805.2690




Also Checkout: Countries That Celebrate Christmas 2022

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top