As of 2007, in most countries of the world the metric system officially dominates; but traditional units are still used in many places and industries. For example, automobile tyre pressure is measured as psi in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Australia and Chile which are otherwise completely metric. Office space is often rented in traditional units, such as square foot in Hong Kong, tsubo in Japan or pyeong in Korea. Traditional measurements are still used in some areas: e.g., in plumbing the diameters of pipes are still measured in inches in some countries (in the United Kingdom all new pipes are metric). Automotive wheel diameters are still set as whole inch measurements (although tyre widths are measured in millimetres) and dots per inch continues to be used in describing graphical resolution in the computer industry. Television and monitor screen diameters are still commonly cited in inches in many countries; however, in Australia and South Africa, centimetres are often used for television sets, whereas CRT computer monitors and all LCD monitors are measured in inches. The only exception to the metrication process in Ireland was the pint in bars, pubs, and clubs; although alcohol sold in any other location is in metric units (usually 330 ml (canned beer), 500 ml (bottled beer), 750 ml (wine), or 1 l (spirit)). In Australia, a pint of beer was redefined to 570 ml (see Australian beer glasses). In both metric and non-metric countries, racing bicycle frames are generally measured in centimetres, while mountain bicycle frames are measured in either or both. In Spain and former colonies i.e. Americas and Philippines certain pre-metric units are still used e.g. the quiñón for land measurement in the Philippines, the fanega, ferrado and atahúlla to name three used in Spain and other former possessions. The pulgada (inch) is 23 mm so 2 mm shorter than the English inch.
In some countries (such as Antigua, see above), the transition is still in progress. The Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia announced metrication programs in 2005 to be compatible with CARICOM.[17] In the United Kingdom, the metric system is compulsory in most, but not all, industries. In the United Kingdom, the metric system had been legal for nearly a century before metrication efforts began in earnest. The government had been making preparations for the conversion of the Imperial unit since the 1862 Select Committee on Weights and Measures recommended the conversion[18] and the Weights and Measures Act of 1864 and the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Act of 1896 legalised the metric system.[19] In 1965, with lobbying from British industries and the prospects of joining the European Community, the government set a 10 year target for full conversion and created the Metrication Board in 1969. Metrication did occur in many areas during this time period, including the re-surveying of Ordnance Survey maps in 1970, decimalisation of the currency in 1971, and teaching the metric system in schools. However, no date was set for making the use of the metric system compulsory, and the Metrication Board was abolished in 1980 following a change in government.[20] The 1989 European Units of Measurement Directive (89/617/EEC) required all member states to make the metric system compulsory; however, the British negotiated certain derogations (delayed switchovers), including miles for road signs, and pints for draught beer, cider, and milk sales.[21] and because physical repackaging into rounded metric numbers could lead to reducing the quantity of goods sold for the same price.[22] It should, however, be noted that some items have been rounded up during metric changeover; for example, spirits were changed from 1/6 of a gill (23.7 ml) to 25 ml and the standard loaf from 14 ounces (396.9 g) to 400 g.
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