Wondering how many pounds are there in a kilogram? This guide will explain everything you need to know to convert kilograms to pounds. A chart is included which you can use for easy reference.
Key points
First to quickly answer your question “How many pounds are in a kilogram?” There are 2.20462 pounds in a kilogram.
It is often rounded to 2.205 for easy conversions. On the other hand, if you want to know the number of kilograms in one pound, it is 0.453592 kg.
Why do you need to know this conversion?
The main reason for this is that different measurement systems are used in different countries.
The metric system is used in most countries while the Imperial system is used in the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar. Both these systems measure ingredients differently.
The metric system uses grams (g) and kilograms (kg) for mass or weight and liters (L) and milliliters (mL) for volume. On the other hand, the Imperial system uses pounds (lb) and ounces (oz) for mass or weight and fluid ounces (fl oz), cups (c), quarts (qt), and gallons (gal) for volume.
The recipes outside of the US use kilograms instead of pounds to weigh ingredients. So, one may need these conversions to know the quantity of an ingredient.
In day-to-day life, you may just need ounces to grams or grams to ounces conversion. However, if you are scaling your recipe or measuring heavy ingredients like meats, you may need bigger units like kilograms and pounds.
What is a pound?
A pound is equal to 0.453592 kilograms (Kg), 453.592 grams (g), or 16 ounces (oz).
The term “pound” originated from the name of an ancient Roman unit of measure “libra pondo” which meant a pound by weight. The English term “pound” came from the word “pondo” while its abbreviation “lb” came from the first word “libra”.
The history of the pound is somewhat complex and it had different definitions. It was not always equal to 0.453592 kilograms like today.
The unit pound is primarily used in the United States and a few other countries.
What is a kilogram?
A kilogram is equal to 2.20462 pounds (lbs), 1000 grams (g), or 35.274 ounces (oz). Its symbol is “kg”. Sometimes, it is called a kilo.
The kilogram was first defined in 1795 during the French Revolution, and it was equal to the weight of one liter of water. Today’s definition of a kilogram is almost identical to this original one, with only a very tiny difference of 30 parts in a million.
How to convert kilograms to pounds?
1 kilogram (kg) is equal to 2.20462 pounds (lbs) (in fact, to be more exact it is 2.20462262185 lbs but that makes the calculations even more complicated).
So, to convert kilograms to pounds, you can use the conversion factor 2.20462. This means you multiply the number of kilograms by 2.20462 to get the weight in pounds. You can use the rounded factor of 2.205 if needed.
For example, if you have 5 kilograms, the conversion to pounds would be 5 kg x 2.20462 = 11.0231 pounds.
Kilograms to pounds conversion chart
Below you can find a chart with the conversion of different values of kilograms to pounds. If you right-click on the picture, you will get an option to save it. You can even pin the chart if you want.
- ¼ kg is equal to 0.551 pounds (lbs)
- ½ kg is equal to 1.102 pounds (lbs)
- 1 kg is equal to 2.20462 pounds (lbs)
- 1.5 kg is equal to 3.31 pounds (lbs)
- 2 kg is equal to 4.41 pounds (lbs)
- 2.5 kg is equal to 5.51 pounds (lbs)
- 3 kg is equal to 6.61 pounds (lbs)
- 4 kg is equal to 8.82 pounds (lbs)
- 5 kg is equal to 11.02 pounds (lbs)
- 6 kg is equal to 13.23 pounds (lbs)
- 7 kg is equal to 15.43 pounds (lbs)
- 8 kg is equal to 17.64 pounds (lbs)
- 9 kg is equal to 19.84 pounds (lbs)
- 10 kg is equal to 22.05 pounds (lbs)
- 12 kg is equal to 26.46 pounds (lbs)
- 15 kg is equal to 33.07 pounds (lbs)
- 18 kg is equal to 39.68 pounds (lbs)
- 20 kg is equal to 44.1 pounds (lbs)
- 25 kg is equal to 55.12 pounds (lbs)
- 40 kg is equal to 88.18 pounds (lbs)
- 50 kg is equal to 110.23 pounds (lbs)
- 60 kg is equal to 132.28 pounds (lbs)
- 70 kg is equal to 154.32 pounds (lbs)
- 80 kg is equal to 176.37 pounds (lbs)
- 90 kg is equal to 198.42 pounds (lbs)
- 100 kg is equal to 220.462 pounds (lbs)
- 150 kg is equal to 330.69 pounds (lbs)
How to convert pounds to kilograms?
If you need to do the reverse, that is convert pounds to kilograms, you can use the conversion factor of 0.453592.
How we get this factor? 2.20462 pounds is equal to 1 kg, so to get 1 pound in kilograms, you can divide 1 by 2.20462. This gives us a conversion factor of 0.453592.
For example, if you need to convert 10 pounds to kilograms, you can multiply 10 by 0.453592. The result will be 4.53592 kg.
See this article for pounds to kilograms conversion chart.
Takeaway
There are 2.20462 pounds in a kilogram. If needed, you can easily convert kilograms to pounds by using the conversion factor 2.20462.
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