Countries That Don’t Use the Metric System

Introduction

The metric system of measurement was introduced after the French Revolution in 1789 and succeeded the decimalized system. Previously, many countries used the imperial system of measurement, called so because of its use by the dominant global empire at the time, Great Britain. This measurement spread to all its colonies, including the U.S. where it has remained the system of measurement despite independence. However, Britain now uses the metric system in line with the rest of Europe.

As such, there are only three countries in the world that do not use the metric system; the U.S, Liberia, and Myanmar. Liberia was a colony of the U.S. and so it inherited the imperial system from them, while Myanmar adopted it due to diplomatic isolation which prevented them from joining treaties that would have established the metric system. However, both of these countries are looking to move on from the imperial system and adopt the metric system, which would leave the U.S. as the sole country in the world to not have adopted the metric system. 

If you would like to learn more about countries that don’t use the metric system, please refer to the data in the charts.

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