“Decriminalization” or “Decriminalisation”

Language

Decriminalization and decriminalisation are both English terms.

Usage

Decriminalization is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English (en-US) while decriminalisation is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

In terms of actual appearance and usage, here's a breakdown by country, with usage level out of 100 (if available) 👇:

Term	US	UK	India	Philippines	Canada	Australia	Liberia	Ireland	New Zealand	Jamaica	Trinidad & Tobago	Guyana
decriminalization	100	45	71	100	95	27	0	39	61	100	93	100
decriminalisation	0	55	29	0	5	73	0	61	39	0	7	0

• In the United States, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (100 to 0).
• In the United Kingdom, there is a 55 to 45 preference for "decriminalisation" over "decriminalization".
• In India, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (71 to 29).
• In the Philippines, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (100 to 0).
• In Canada, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (95 to 5).
• In Australia, there is a 73 to 27 preference for "decriminalisation" over "decriminalization".
• In Liberia, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "decriminalization" and "decriminalisation".
• In Ireland, there is a 61 to 39 preference for "decriminalisation" over "decriminalization".
• In New Zealand, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (61 to 39).
• In Jamaica, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (100 to 0).
• In Trinidad & Tobago, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (93 to 7).
• In Guyana, there is a preference for "decriminalization" over "decriminalisation" (100 to 0).

Examples

Below, we provide some examples of when to use decriminalization or decriminalisation with sample sentences.

Trends

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