Five Billion in Numbers

How to write 5,000,000,000 in words

The number 5,000,000,000 is written “five billion” in British English.

Because 5,000,000,000 is below one thousand it is a single group: name the hundreds and stop. That gives “five billion”.

In running text the number is normally lowercase: “the fee is five billion pounds”. At the start of a sentence, in a heading, or on a legal document it takes capitals: Five Billion. Formal documents often give both forms together, for example “five billion (5,000,000,000)”, so that a reader can check one against the other.

2 words · 11 letters · 5,000,000,000 = 5 × 1,000,000,000 (one billion)

Five Billion in figures

To turn “five billion” back into digits, work group by group. Each group word (billion, million, thousand) marks a block of three digits. The result is 5,000,000,000, or 5000000000 without separators.

Commas go after every third digit counting from the right: 5,000,000,000. In Britain and the United States this is the standard grouping; in much of Europe the same number appears as 5.000.000.000, and international scientific style uses spaces: 5 000 000 000.

How to write 5,000,000,000 on a cheque

Banks read the amount in words as the legal amount, so it must be exact. Write the pounds in words, add the word pounds, and finish with only so that nothing can be added afterwards.

• With pence: add the pence after the pounds – “Five billion pounds and fifty pence only” for £5,000,000,000.50 – or write the pence as a fraction, “Five billion pounds 50/100”.
• US check: “Five billion and 00/100 dollars”. American cheques drop the “and” after the hundreds and put it before the cents.
• Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: the currency word comes first and the amount is counted in lakh and crore – “Taka five hundred crore only”, with the figure written Tk. 5,00,00,00,000/=.

Read the full guide to writing a UK cheque or the guide to writing a cheque in Bangladesh for the layout, the date, and what to do if the words and figures disagree.

5,000,000,000 in British and American English

5,000,000,000 is spelled exactly the same way – “five billion” – in British and American English. The two varieties only differ when a number contains hundreds followed by tens or units, where British English adds “and”. Read more in our guide to British vs American English numbers.

5,000,000,000 in lakh and crore (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan)

In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, large numbers are grouped differently. After the first thousand the digits are grouped in twos, and the units are lakh (100,000) and crore (10,000,000). So 5,000,000,000 becomes 5,00,00,00,000, read as “five hundred crore” – or simply 500 crore.

On an Indian cheque or invoice the amount reads “Rupees five hundred crore only”; in Bangladesh it is “Taka five hundred crore only”. Our lakh and crore conversion guide explains the system in full.

5,000,000,000 in Bangla (বাংলায় ৫,০০,০০,০০,০০০)

In Bangla, 5,000,000,000 is written ৫,০০,০০,০০,০০০ using Bengali digits, and in words it is পাঁচশো কোটি. Bangla has its own word for every number from one to ninety-nine, and above that it counts in হাজার (thousand), লাখ (lakh) and কোটি (crore), the same grouping used across Bangladesh and India.

On a cheque or invoice written in Bangla the amount reads পাঁচশো কোটি টাকা মাত্র (“পাঁচশো কোটি taka only”). In English on the same cheque it is Taka five hundred crore only – see How to write a cheque in Bangladesh.

Common mistakes when writing 5,000,000,000

• Pluralising the group words. It is billion, never “hundreds”, “thousands” or “millions” after a number.
• Using shorthand in formal documents. 5bn is fine in a message, but a cheque or contract needs five billion or 5,000,000,000.
• Miscounting the zeros. 5,000,000,000 has 10 digits. Check the commas: every group between commas should have exactly three digits.

Other ways to write 5,000,000,000

Half of 5,000,000,000 is 2,500,000,000 (two billion five hundred million). Double 5,000,000,000 is 10,000,000,000 (ten billion).