Question: what is the difference between a british billion and an american billion?
Answer: The old UK meaning of a billion was a million million, or one followed by twelve noughts (1,000,000,000,000). The USA meaning of a billion is a thousand million, or one followed by nine noughts (1,000,000,000). ... The UK government has been using the American meaning of billion since 1974 for the numbers it gives out.