Don Hillger asked in USMA 12485:
>Joe,
>
>I'm curious about the dates you come up with. Are they in a table or in
>the text?
>Regardless, could you compile a list of dates for every country listed,
>both the decision date and the effective dates, or whatever they are
>called? If this is not in some easily readable table we could make on
>for the USMA pages.
>
>Don
My information comes from a table in H. Moreau's Le Système Métrique, 1975,
ISBN 2-7027-0236-8. His table is as follows. Dates in parenthesis are
that of the entry into force of the official decision (law, decree,
ordinance, etc.) to adopt the metric system, or the date of the definitive
application of the system.
M Countries whose date of adoptiion could not be determined.
* Countries where conversion is under way or decided.
O Optional adoption
N Non-metric country
France 1795 (1840)
Belgium, Luxembourg 1816 (1820)
Netherlands 1816 (1832)
Saint-Pierre et Miquelon 1824-39
Reunion 1839
French Guiana 1840
Senegal 1840
Algeria 1843
Guadeloupe 1844
Martinique 1844
Chile 1848 (1865)
Spain (and possessions 1849 (1871)
Dominican Republic 1849 (1942-55)
Portugal 1852 (1872)
Madera 1852
Columbia 1853
Monaco 1854
Mexico 1857 (1896)
Venezuela 1857 (1912-14)
Italy 1861 (1863)
New Caledonia 1862
Peru 1862 (1869)
Brazil 1862 (1874)
Uruguay 1862 (1894)
Argentina 1863 (1887)
Romainia 1864 (1884)
Ecuador 1865-71
U.S.A. 1866 O
Bolivia 1868 (1871)
Switzerland 1868 (1877)
Germany 1871 (1872)
Austria, Czechoslovakia 1871 (1876)
* Canada 1871 Op; 1970
Yugoslavia 1873 (1883)
Hungary 1874 (1876)
Liechtenstein, Netherlands Antilles 1875 (1876)
Norway 1875 (1882)
Mauritius 1876 (1878)
Sweden 1878 (1889)
Seychelles 1880
Costa Rica 1881 (1912)
Cuba 1882 (1960)
Ivory Coast 1884-90
Dahomey 1884-91
Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Upper Volta 1884 (1907)
Finland 1886 (1892)
Bulgaria 1888 (1892)
Cape Verdi 1891
Japan 1893 O; 1923 (1959-60)
Camaroun 1894
Tunisia 1895
Madagascar 1897
*,United Kingdom 1897 Op; 1965
* Ireland 1897 Op; 1968-69
Afars et Issas
Paraguay 1899
USSR 1889 O; 1918 (1927)
Laos (M, end of 19th century)
Guinea 1901-06
Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambigue 1905 (1910)
Philippines 1906 (1973-75)
Iceland, San Marino 1907
Denmark, 1907 (1912)
Zaire 1910
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador 1910 (1912)
Malta 1910 (1921)
Viet-Nam 1911
Cambodia, Comores 1914
Panama 1916
Poland 1919
Haiti 1920 (1922)
India 1920 Op; 1956
Myanmar 1920 Op
* South Africa 1922 Op; 1967 (1974)
Morocco 1923
Thailand 1923 (1936)
Indonesia 1923 (1938)
Togo 1924
New Zealand 1925 Op; 1969
Afghanistan 1926
Libya 1927
China 1929 (1930)
Turkey 1931 (1933)
Iran 1933 (1935-49)
Iraq 1931 Op; 1960
Lebanon, Syria 1935
* Zambia 1937 Op; 1970
Egypt 1939 (1951-61)
Democratic Republic of Korea 1947
Korea 1949
* Uganda 1950 1950 Op; 1967-69
* Somalia 1950 Op; 1972
Albania 1951
* Kenya 1951 Op; 1967-68
Jordan 1953 (1954)
Taiwan 1954
Sudan 1955
Macao, Timor 1957
Kuwait 1961 (1964)
Australia 1961 Op; 1970
Saudi Arabia 1962 (1964)
Ethiopia 1963
Nepal 1963 (1966-71)
* Namibia 1967
* Pakistan 1967-72
* Tanzania 1967-69
* Singapore 1968-70
* Bahrain, Zimbabwe 1969
* Botswana 1969-70 (1973)
* Swaziland 1969 (1973)
* Gibraltar, Lesotho, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands 1970
* Trinity and Tobago 1970-71
* Sri Lanka 1970 (1974)
* Bermuda, Guyana 1971
* Malasia 1971-72
* Nigeria 1971-73
* Fiji 1972
* Cyprus 1972-74
Ghana 1972 (1975)
* Barbados, Jamaica, Nauru 1973
* Tonga 1975
* Bahamas, Bhutan, Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Kiribati, Kiribati
* Niue, Oman, Sierra Leone, Tokelau Islands,
* United Arab Emirates, Western Samoa
Bangladesh (N), Burundi (M), Equatorial Guinea (M)
Mongolia (M), Rwanda (M)
Liberia (N),
_________________________________________________________________________
I have translated Moreau's country names from French to English, and
substituted the latest versions of those names. Moreau ordered his list
alphabetically by country name, I have sorted it chronologically. I have
not changed Moreau's numbers, which were those available in 1975, and may
be obsolete.
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
