Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 29, 2005



Metrication is the process of converting from the various other systems of units used throughout the world to the metric system. This process began in France in the 1790s and spread over the following two centuries to all but four countries, representing 95 percent of the world's population. The process was completed in most of the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries, replacing numerous historical weights and measures. The countries of the former British Empire completed metrication during the second half of the 20th century, with Ireland recently completing metrication on January 20, 2005. Today only the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar have not officially switched to the metric system, although Liberia and Myanmar use it in practice; the United Kingdom is currently in the process of conversion. Only France, the U.S., the U.K., and Japan have seen significant popular opposition to metrication, the main objections being based on tradition, aesthetics, and distaste for measures viewed as foreign.

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