Is 1 Billion The Same Number Around The World? The Short Answer Is: No

The difference between a million and a billion is pretty difficult to wrap your head around. Sure, in one sense it is simply adding on a few zeroes at the end of a number, but when you compare the two numbers by looking at real-world objects the difference is pretty stark.

For classic example, a million seconds is 11.57 days, whereas one billion seconds is 31.7 years. That difference gets more stark in minutes, as you are essentially multiplying the example by 60.

"A million minutes ago was 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago. A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ," a 2007 paper on the topic of large numbers explains. "A million hours ago was in 1885. A billion hours ago man had not yet walked on Earth."

Powers of 10 have been studied by mathematicians for centuries, but it wasn't until the 1600s CE when the term "billion" was first used to denote a specific number. That number was not the classic billion we use today, meaning one thousand million (1,000,000,000), but the far larger one million million (1,000,000,000,000).

"Billion, purposely formed in 16th c. to denote the second power of a million (by substituting BI- prefix for the initial letters), trillion and quadrillion being similarly formed to denote its 3rd and 4th powers. The name appears not to have been adopted in Eng. before the end of the 17th," the 1989 Oxford English Dictionary explained, per the UK House of Commons Library.

"Subsequently the application of the word was changed by French arithmeticians, figures being divided in numeration into groups of threes, instead of sixes, so that F. billion, trillion, denoted not the second and third powers of a million, but a thousand millions and a thousand thousand millions. In the 19th century, the S. adopted the French convention, but Britain retained the original and etymological use (to which France reverted in 1948)."

But around the world, and in particular the US, the term came to mean a puny 1,000 million. This created some confusion when communicating internationally about large numbers. In the end, it was the US – and, let's face it, more useful – version that won out in most English-speaking countries, slowly becoming more popular in the 20th century. In the UK, where people were particularly stubborn about it, the larger billion officially lasted until 1974.

"What constitutes a billion is a source of occasional confusion. In official UK statistics the term is now used to denote 1 thousand million – 1,000,000,000. Historically, however, in the UK the term billion meant 1 million million – 1,000,000,000,000 - but in the United States the term was used to refer to 1 thousand million," the UK House of Commons Library explains in their statistical literacy guide. "The US value had, however, become increasingly used in Britain and the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson confirmed in a written reply in 1974 that the meaning of 'billion' would be thousand-million, in conformity with international usage."

When asked whether he would ask ministers to stick to the British billion to "avoid confusion" he replied:

"No. The word 'billion' is now used internationally to mean 1,000 million and it would be confusing if British Ministers were to use it in any other sense. I accept that it could still be interpreted in this country as 1 million million and I shall ask my colleagues to ensure that, if they do use it, there should be no ambiguity as to its meaning."

While around the world one billion now generally means 1,000 million, and a trillion is 1,000 billion, this is technically known as the "short scale", where the numbers grow by a factor of 1,000 (10³). The long scale, where they increase by a factor of 1,000,000 (10⁶) is still in use in many non-English-speaking countries. So your idea of a billion may be at odds with a billion from around the world.