by Hector Vera
(Source: Hector Vera, “The Social Life of Measures: Metrication in the United States and Mexico, 1789–2004”, PhD dissertation, Sociology and Historical Studies, New School for Social Research, 2011, pp. 494–497).
This table shows the 196 existing countries according to the grid of national states in 2010 and their respective year of official adoption of the decimal metric system as the compulsory and exclusive system of measurement.
When countries are followed by a C indicates that the metric system was introduced when that country was a colony; if it is followed by an S means that the metric system was introduced when that country was part of a larger political entity from which it seceded. Both of these cases are considered non-voluntary adoptions.
The column Optional indicates, when appropriate, the year when the use of the metric system became optional in that country.
The column Vicinity indicates—for those countries that adopted the metric system voluntarily—the number of years before or after one of the country’s neighbors adopted the metric system.
The countries marked with an N/M at the end of the table are non-metric countries.
| Country | Note | Adopted | Optional | Vicinity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1795 | -21 | ||
| Belgium | 1816 | 0 | ||
| Luxembourg | 1816 | 0 | ||
| Netherlands | 1816 | 0 | ||
| Algeria | C | 1840 | ||
| Senegal | C | 1840 | ||
| Spain | 1849 | 54 | ||
| Portugal | 1852 | 3 | ||
| Monaco | 1853 | 53 | ||
| Colombia | 1853 | -9 | ||
| Mexico | 1857 | -53 | ||
| Venezuela | 1857 | 4 | ||
| Cuba | C | 1858 | ||
| Italy | 1861 | 66 | ||
| Brazil | 1862 | 0 | ||
| Peru | 1862 | 0 | ||
| Uruguay | 1862 | 0 | ||
| Romania | 1864 | -5 | ||
| Chile | 1865 | 1848 | 3 | |
| Ecuador | 1865 | 3 | ||
| Dominican Republic | 1867 | 14 | ||
| Germany | 1868 | 75 | ||
| Bolivia | 1868 | 3 | ||
| Turkey | 1869 | 5 | ||
| Suriname | C | 1871 | ||
| Croatia | S | 1871 | ||
| Czech Republic | S | 1871 | ||
| Liechtenstein | S | 1871 | ||
| Montenegro | S | 1871 | ||
| Slovakia | S | 1871 | ||
| Slovenia | S | 1871 | ||
| Austria | 1871 | 3 | ||
| Serbia | 1873 | 2 | ||
| Hungary | 1874 | 4 | ||
| Sweden | 1874 | 6 | ||
| Switzerland | 1875 | 1868 | 4 | |
| Mauritius | C | 1876 | ||
| Argentina | 1877 | 1863 | 9 | |
| Seychelles | C | 1878 | ||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | S | 1878 | 1910 | |
| Costa Rica | 1881 | -12 | ||
| Norway | 1882 | 1875 | 8 | |
| Benin | C | 1884 | ||
| Chad | C | 1884 | ||
| Congo, Republic of the | C | 1884 | 1960 | |
| Côte d’Ivoire | C | 1884 | ||
| Mauritania | C | 1884 | ||
| Niger | C | 1884 | ||
| El Salvador | 1885 | -10 | ||
| Finland | 1886 | 4 | ||
| Macedonia | S | 1888 | ||
| Bulgaria | 1888 | 15 | ||
| São Tomé and Príncipe | C | 1891 | ||
| Tunisia | C | 1893 | ||
| Nicaragua | 1893 | 8 | ||
| Honduras | 1895 | 2 | ||
| Djibouti | C | 1898 | ||
| Puerto Rico | C | 1899 | ||
| Paraguay | 1899 | 22 | ||
| Equatorial Guinea | C | 1900 | ||
| Iceland | 1900 | 18 | ||
| Guinea | C | 1901 | 1959 | |
| Guinea-Bissau | C | 1905 | ||
| Angola | C | 1905 | ||
| Cape Verde | C | 1905 | ||
| Mozambique | C | 1905 | ||
| Philippines | C | 1906 | ||
| Denmark | 1907 | 7 | ||
| San Marino | 1907 | 38 | ||
| Congo, Democratic Rep. | C | 1910 | ||
| Burundi | C | 1910 | ||
| Rwanda | C | 1910 | ||
| Malta | C | 1910 | ||
| Belize | S | 1910 | ||
| Guatemala | 1910 | 1894 | 15 | |
| Vietnam | C | 1911 | ||
| Thailand | 1912 | 1 | ||
| China | 1913 | -3 | ||
| Comoros | C | 1914 | ||
| Panama | 1915 | 34 | ||
| Mongolia | 1916 | 3 | ||
| Russia | 1918 | 1899 | 2 | |
| Poland | 1919 | 1 | ||
| Haiti | 1920 | 53 | ||
| Cambodia | C | 1922 | ||
| Morocco | C | 1922 | ||
| Western Sahara | C | 1922 | ||
| Kazakhstan | S | 1922 | ||
| Kyrgyzstan | S | 1922 | ||
| Tajikistan | S | 1922 | ||
| Turkmenistan | S | 1922 | ||
| Uzbekistan | S | 1922 | ||
| Armenia | S | 1922 | ||
| Azerbaijan | S | 1922 | ||
| Belarus | S | 1922 | ||
| Estonia | S | 1922 | ||
| Georgia | S | 1922 | ||
| Latvia | S | 1922 | ||
| Lithuania | S | 1922 | ||
| Moldova | S | 1922 | ||
| Ukraine | S | 1922 | ||
| Libya | C | 1923 | ||
| Indonesia | C | 1923 | ||
| Afghanistan | 1923 | 1 | ||
| Togo | C | 1924 | ||
| Iran | 1927 | 4 | ||
| Iraq | 1930 | 3 | ||
| Syria | C | 1934 | ||
| Andorra | 1934 | 85 | ||
| Lebanon | 1934 | 0 | ||
| Israel | 1947 | 13 | ||
| Albania | 1948 | 60 | ||
| Korea, North | 1948 | 30 | ||
| Korea, South | 1949 | 1 | ||
| Egypt | 1951 | 1873 | 3 | |
| Japan | 1951 | 2 | ||
| Bhutan | 1951 | -3 | ||
| Taiwan | S | 1952 | ||
| Jordan | 1952 | 5 | ||
| India | 1954 | 1920 | 3 | |
| Sudan | 1954 | 31 | ||
| Timor-Leste | C | 1957 | ||
| Macau | C | 1957 | ||
| Greece | 1957 | 1836 | 9 | |
| Madagascar | 1957 | 43 | ||
| Maldives | 1959 | 5 | ||
| Mali | 1960 | 0 | ||
| Burkina Faso | 1960 | 0 | ||
| Central African Rep | 1960 | 6 | ||
| Gabon | 1960 | 1 | ||
| Somalia | 1960 | 1950 | 62 | |
| Cameroon | 1961 | 1 | ||
| Kuwait | 1961 | 31 | ||
| United Arab Emirates | 1961 | 34 | ||
| Eritrea | S | 1962 | ||
| Ethiopia | 1962 | 2 | ||
| Nigeria | 1962 | 1 | ||
| Nepal | 1963 | 9 | ||
| Laos | 1963 | 41 | ||
| Saudi Arabia | 1964 | 3 | ||
| United Kingdom | 1965 | 1864 | 58 | |
| Namibia | S | 1967 | ||
| Ireland | 1967 | 1897 | 2 | |
| South Africa | 1967 | 62 | ||
| Pakistan | 1967 | 13 | ||
| Tanzania | 1967 | 0 | ||
| Uganda | 1967 | 1950 | 0 | |
| Kenya | 1967 | 1953 | 0 | |
| Singapore | 1968 | 45 | ||
| Australia | 1969 | 0 | ||
| New Zealand | 1969 | 1925 | 0 | |
| Bahamas, The | 1969 | 4 | ||
| Zimbabwe | 1969 | 0 | ||
| Botswana | 1969 | 0 | ||
| Swaziland | 1969 | 1 | ||
| Bahrain | 1969 | 3 | ||
| Grenada | 1969 | 0 | ||
| Dominica | 1969 | 112 | ||
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 1969 | 0 | ||
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 1969 | -4 | ||
| Canada | 1970 | 1871 | ||
| Sri Lanka | 1970 | 11 | ||
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1970 | 1 | ||
| Zambia | 1970 | 1937 | 1 | |
| Lesotho | 1970 | 3 | ||
| Papua New Guinea | 1970 | 0 | ||
| Solomon Islands | 1970 | 0 | ||
| Malaysia | 1971 | 3 | ||
| Guyana | 1971 | 100 | ||
| Ghana | 1972 | 12 | ||
| Cyprus | 1972 | 15 | ||
| Fiji | 1972 | 3 | ||
| Qatar | 1972 | 3 | ||
| Jamaica | 1973 | 53 | ||
| Barbados | 1973 | 3 | ||
| Nauru | 1973 | -9 | ||
| Oman | 1974 | 7 | ||
| Antigua and Barbuda | 1974 | 5 | ||
| Tonga | 1975 | 3 | ||
| Sierra Leone | 1976 | 75 | ||
| Malawi | 1976 | 6 | ||
| Gambia, The | 1976 | 71 | ||
| Tuvalu | 1978 | 6 | ||
| Yemen | 1981 | 7 | ||
| Bangladesh | 1982 | 28 | ||
| Kiribati | 1984 | 6 | ||
| Brunei | 1985 | 14 | ||
| Vanuatu | 1988 | 16 | ||
| Saint Lucia | 2000 | 27 | ||
| Samoa | N/M | |||
| Myanmar (Burma) | N/M | 1920 | ||
| Marshall Islands | N/M | 1986 | ||
| Micronesia, Federated States of | N/M | 1986 | ||
| Palau | N/M | 1994 | ||
| Liberia | N/M | |||
| United States | N/M | 1866 |
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