How Many Grams Are in a Milligram?

By Staff WriterLast Updated April 08, 2020

One milligram contains 1/1000 gram, so 1 gram has 1,000 milligrams. The gram is the basic unit of mass in the metric system of measurement.

Certain standard prefixes are used with basic units to make the unit smaller or larger. For example, “deci-” means tenth, “centi-” means hundredth, and “milli-” means thousandth. These prefixes are used before such units as meter for length and liter for volume, in addition to the gram. The metric system allows easy conversion within units because it is based on powers of 10. Moving the decimal point to the right or left is often all that is needed. For instance, 1 milligram equals 10 centigrams and 100 decigrams.