---
title: "Reading Large Numbers by Country — Lakh, Crore, 万, 億, Million, Billion"
description: "How the world names large numbers: US/UK million/billion, Indian lakh/crore, Chinese/Japanese 万 and 億. Includes the short scale vs long scale billion confusion and a conversion table."
url: "https://worldcalculators.org/learning/how-to/reading-large-numbers/"
canonical: "https://worldcalculators.org/learning/how-to/reading-large-numbers/"
---

# Reading Large Numbers by Country

How the world names large numbers: US/UK million/billion, Indian lakh/crore, Chinese/Japanese 万 and 億. Includes the short scale vs long scale billion confusion and a conversion table.

## Quick answer

One billion dollars = $1,000,000,000 (US) = ₹1,00,00,00,000 (10 Arab in India) = ¥10億 (Japan) = ¥10亿 (China). India counts in lakhs (100,000) and crores (10,000,000). Japan and China count in 万 (10,000) and 億 (100,000,000). There is no single Japanese word for "million."

## Step-by-Step

Determine whether the number uses the Western system (thousands, millions, billions), the Indian system (lakh, crore), or the East Asian system (万, 億).
Match the amount to its name in each system. For example, 1,000,000 = one million = 10 lakh = 100万.

## India: Lakh and Crore

India uses the South Asian numbering system where the grouping is different from the Western system. After the first three digits (thousands), digits are grouped in twos.
The number 123,456,789 (US) is written 12,34,56,789 in India — read as "twelve crore thirty-four lakh fifty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine."

## Japan and China: 万 (10,000) and 億 (100,000,000)

East Asian languages group numbers in units of 万 (ten thousand) — not thousands. There is no single word for "million" in Japanese or Mandarin Chinese. Instead:
Japan's GDP is measured in 兆円 (chō-en) — trillion yen. A "billion yen" in Japan is 10億円 , not a single named unit.

## The Billion Confusion: Short Scale vs Long Scale

Historically, "billion" meant different things in different countries:
Today, short scale is the global standard for scientific, financial, and official government use.

Source: https://worldcalculators.org/learning/how-to/reading-large-numbers/
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