Decimalization

Decimalization refers to any process of converting from traditional units, usually of money, to a decimal system.

This process has been undergone by all countries except Mauritania and Saudi Arabia, but the former has in practice dropped their smaller unit since it is worth so little, and the latter is currently phasing out their non-decimal unit by not minting any new coins in it.

France decimalised first, abandoning the Livre tournois at the time of the Revolution, and imposed decimalisation on a number of countries that it invaded at that time. Many countries in the world decimalised on achieving independence from Britain, the first to do so being the United States. However some Commonwealth countries retained traditional money systems (pounds, shillings and pence) after achieving effective independence as Dominions, and decimalised more recently. For example South Africa decimalised in 1961, introducing the rand as the new unit of currency.

When Australia decimalised in 1966, the currency was renamed the Australian dollar in the process, as the size of the basic currency unit was changed (to ten of the old shillings, i.e. half the value of the previous pound). A similar strategy was followed in New Zealand in 1967, with the introduction of the New Zealand dollar.

The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland decimalised the Pound Sterling and the Irish pound on February 15, 1971; see Decimal Day.

Many other former British colonies, such as Singapore, Malaya, India, Mauritius, and the Seychelles used decimal currencies, even while under British rule.

In France, decimalisation of the coinage was accompanied by metrication of other measures. However, in general the two have not gone hand in hand: the U.S. has never metricated, Canada has only recently done so despite having long had a decimal coinage, and the U.K. has only metricated to a limited extent.