Official government statistics have officially adopted the short scale version, but that is really at the root of the problem. It puts reporting figures at odds with people's understanding of them. Maybe that will change in fifty years time when everyone has been educated on the short scale, but you have to appreciate that someone over the age of 50 will have been educated on the long scale. In the Oxford English Dictionary which generally has the final say in these matters the primary definition is "1. orig. and still commonly in Great Britain: A million millions. (= U.S. trillion.)".   

Neither of you addressed my question. Even if I grant that some people, in Britain, "over the age of 50" still "sometimes" equate "billion" with million x million, in some situations, this is still a minority, and small one at that. Why are we catering to the few? Far more people recognize billion as thousand x million. (And for the record, I'm British and in my mid-forties. I have never used "billion" except in the modern sense.) Shouldn't we be using what is most common? (isn't that policy?) Doesn't WP cater to the majority? Betty, you yourself just said that "Official government statistics have officially adopted the short scale version". So, what's the debate?  -  ''''