Multiply by a thousand
thousands = millions × 1,000, millions = thousands ÷ 1,000
Each step up the short scale — thousand, million, billion — multiplies by 1,000. So one million is 1,000 thousands, and to convert you just shift by three zeros: 2.5 million becomes 2,500 thousand.
Common values
| Millions | Thousands |
|---|---|
| 0.5 million | 500 thousand |
| 1 million | 1,000 thousand |
| 2.5 million | 2,500 thousand |
| 10 million | 10,000 thousand |
| 100 million | 100,000 thousand |
The traps: abbreviations and the Indian system
- K, M, B. Thousand, million, billion. Misreading a suffix shifts the value by a factor of 1,000, so write the full word in contracts and reports.
- Lakh and crore. In the Indian system 1 million is 10 lakh (a lakh is 100,000) and 0.1 crore (a crore is 10 million). Digit grouping also differs: 10,00,000 versus 1,000,000.
- Short vs long "billion". In the US and modern UK a billion is 10 to the 9th; in parts of Europe it can mean 10 to the 12th. This never affects the million-to-thousand step, but watch it one rung higher.
Common questions
How many thousands are in a million?
A thousand thousands. One million equals 1,000 thousands, because a million is 10 to the 6th and a thousand is 10 to the 3rd.
How do I convert millions to thousands?
Multiply by 1,000. So 2.5 million is 2,500 thousand. Going the other way, divide thousands by 1,000 to get millions.
What do K, M and B mean?
K is thousand, M is million, and B or Bn is billion. Reading M as thousand or B as million is a 1,000-fold error, so spell the words out in anything financial.
