WHAT IS A BILLION?

Chris Grek, head of Highways Management for Liverpool City Council tells us that the city is ‘investing 3 billion on infrastructure and regeneration’. So what is a Billion?
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases.

a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
b.. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
c.. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
d.. A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.
e.. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate the U.S government spends it. The UK’s up there somewhere too so don’t laugh.

The next time you hear a politician or quango-head use the word “billion” think about whether you want him to go on spending your money. If you wonder why half of everything you earn goes to national and local government this might help you understand why.

WHAT IS A BILLION?

Chris Grek, head of Highways Management for Liverpool City Council tells us that the city is ‘investing 3 billion on infrastructure and regeneration’. So what is a Billion?
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases.

a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
b.. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
c.. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
d.. A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.
e.. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate the U.S government spends it. The UK’s up there somewhere too so don’t laugh.

The next time you hear a politician or quango-head use the word “billion” think about whether you want him to go on spending your money. If you wonder why half of everything you earn goes to national and local government this might help you understand why.


When I was a British schoolboy, a billion was a million million. Still is in places like Germany etc. However in recent years the media have adopted the US definition of a billion, that is one thousand million. Of course this begs the question as to what exactly is a trillion !!!