section_path: Organizational status
section_name: Organizational status
paragraph_text: Organizational status
  
  The International System of Units, or SI, is a decimal and metric system of units established in 1960 and periodically updated since then. The SI has an official status in most countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, although these three countries are among the handful of nations that, to various degrees, also continue to use their customary systems. Nevertheless, with this nearly universal level of acceptance, the SI "has been used around the world as the preferred system of units, the basic language for science, technology, industry, and trade."
  
  The only other types of measurement system that still have widespread use across the world are the imperial and US customary measurement systems. The international yard and pound are defined in terms of the SI.