Long and short scales
Continent Short scale usage Long scale usage
Africa Arabic ( Egypt , Libya , Tunisia ) , English ( South Sudan ) , South African English Afrikaans , French ( Benin , Central African Republic , Gabon , Guinea ) , Portuguese ( Mozambique )
North America American English , Canadian English U.S. Spanish , Canadian French , Mexican Spanish
South America Brazilian Portuguese , English ( Guyana ) American Spanish , Dutch ( Suriname ) , French ( French Guiana )
Antarctica Australian English , British English , New Zealand English , Russian American Spanish ( Argentina , Chile ) , French ( France ) , Norwegian ( Norway )
Asia Burmese ( Myanmar ) , Hebrew ( Israel ) , Indonesian , Malaysian English , Philippine English , Kazakh , Uzbek , Kyrgyz Portuguese ( East Timor , Macau ) , Persian ( Iran )
Europe British English , Welsh , Estonian , Greek , Latvian , Lithuanian , Russian , Turkish , Ukrainian Danish , Dutch , Finnish , French , German , Icelandic , Italian , Norwegian , Polish , Portuguese , Spanish , Swedish and most other languages of continental Europe
Oceania Australian English , New Zealand English French ( French Polynesia , New Caledonia )
Current usage -- Using neither
The following countries use naming systems for large numbers that are not etymologically related to the short and long scales : Country Number system Naming of large numbers Bangladesh , India , Nepal , Pakistan Indian Numbering System For everyday use , but short or long scale may also be in use Bhutan Dzongkha numerals Traditional system Cambodia Khmer numerals Traditional system China Taiwan South Korea North Korea Japan Chinese numeralsKorean numeralsJapanese numerals Traditional myriad system for the larger numbers ; special words and symbols up to 10 Greece Calque of the short scale Names of the short scale have not been loaned but calqued into Greek , based on the native Greek word for million , εκατομμύριο ekatommyrio ( `` hundred-myriad '' , i.e . 100×10000 ) : δισεκατομμύριο disekatommyrio `` bi+hundred-myriad '' = 10 ( short scale billion ) ; τρισεκατομμύριο trisekatommyrio `` tri+hundred-myriad '' = 10 ( short scale trillion ) ; τετράκις εκατομμύριο tetrakis ekatommyrio `` quadri+hundred-myriad '' = 10 ( short scale quadrillion ) , and so on . Laos Lao numerals Traditional system Maldives , Sri Lanka Sinhala numeralsTamil numerals Traditional systems Mongolia Mongolian numerals Traditional myriad system for the larger numbers ; special words up to 10 Thailand Thai numerals Traditional system based on millions Vietnam Vietnamese numerals Traditional system ( s ) based on thousands Presence on most continents The long and short scales are both present on most continents , with usage dependent on the language used . Examples include :
The long and short scales are two of several naming systems for integer powers of ten which use some of the same words with different meanings. The long scale is based on powers of one million, whereas the short scale is based on powers of one thousand. For whole numbers less than a thousand million (< 10) the two scales are identical. From a thousand million up (≥ 10) the two scales use the same words for different numbers, which can cause misunderstanding.