⚖️ Kg to Lbs Converter
Convert kilograms to pounds and back. The exact factor, a table of the values people look up most, and what each unit is actually used for.
Converting kilograms to pounds
One kilogram is 2.204622622 pounds, and one pound is 0.45359237 kilograms.
pounds = kilograms × 2.204622622
Getting the precision right
The exact definition is 1 pound = 0.45359237 kg, fixed by international agreement in 1959, which makes 1 kg = 2.2046226218 lb. The rough version, multiply by 2.2, is 0.2% low: on 100 kg that is 460 g, about a bag of sugar. Doubling and adding 10% is closer, giving 2.2046 to four places.
Where each unit is used
The kilogram is the SI base unit and is used almost everywhere. The pound survives in the United States for nearly all everyday weighing, and in the United Kingdom alongside the kilogram — British supermarkets price in kilograms while British people still give their own weight in stones and pounds.
Values worth knowing
| kg | lb |
|---|---|
| 0.5 | 1.10231 |
| 1 | 2.20462 |
| 2 | 4.40925 |
| 5 | 11.0231 |
| 10 | 22.0462 |
| 20 | 44.0925 |
| 50 | 110.231 |
| 70 | 154.324 |
| 80 | 176.37 |
| 100 | 220.462 |
A 70 kg adult is 154 lb. A 20 kg suitcase, the usual airline checked allowance, is 44 lb. A 1 kg bag of flour is 2 lb 3 oz.
Where the two units came from
The two units come from different worlds. The kilogram was defined in 1795 as the mass of a litre of water, then as a platinum-iridium cylinder kept near Paris, and since 2019 by fixing the Planck constant — so it no longer depends on any physical object. The pound traces back to the Roman libra, which is why its symbol is lb and not pd. For 150 years the two drifted apart in different countries until 1959, when the English-speaking nations agreed to define the pound in terms of the kilogram, making every pound in the world metric underneath.
Round the result to the precision your own work needs. These converters carry the full factor, which is useful for checking but rarely what you want to write down.
If this is one step in a larger decision, the lbs to stone is usually the next question, and the grams to ounces is worth a look while you are here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How many pounds are in a kilogram?
2.2046226218 pounds, from the exact definition of a pound as 0.45359237 kilograms. For mental arithmetic, doubling and adding 10% gets you within a gram or two per kilo.
Is a pound the same in the US and the UK?
Yes. Both use the international avoirdupois pound of 0.45359237 kg, agreed in 1959. The troy pound used for precious metals is different and heavier per ounce, which is why gold is not weighed in the same ounces as flour.
Why do the British use both?
Metrication was never completed for personal weight. Shops sell in kilograms because trade is regulated in metric units, but people describe their own weight in stones and pounds, which is why a UK bathroom scale usually offers all three.