Brick Size Guide - Brick Sizes Worldwide

About Bricks: Bricks are the most common basic building unit we are familiar with. They have been in use since the dawn of civilization. Bricks were made in various shapes and sizes back in history, but they have gotten almost standardized now. Today, we will discuss brick sizes worldwide.

Bricks are basically a shaped piece of dried and burnt clay. The components of bricks are generally clay, sand, lime and soil bearing. However, depending upon the nature of the soil there can be many other substances mixed in bricks. Also, sometimes intentionally other substances are added in the clay for various reasons. These added impurities change the quality of the brick, affecting its load bearing capacity, durability, and other properties.

Size of bricks: In older times, the size and shape of bricks varied a lot over distance and culture. Because there was little connection between different nations and little sharing of technology, local measurements stayed local. This is why we see many different types of bricks in different areas of the world in the old world, from small matchbox types to large blocks.

As times changes, so did our exchange of information, and gradually this meant standardization of everything basic. The basic building blocks were no exception either - brick making techniques, kilns, ovens and cutting techniques all got exchanged and mixed up with each other. Thus, our modern day bricks are very similar to each other these days. There are little variations depending on country, and we will list it below.

Brick dimensions in different countries: There are several standards of brickmaking in different countries.

The most common of these are BS (British Standard), CSA (Canadian Standards Association), ASTM (American Standard for Testing Materials), and IS (Indian Standard). In the table below, we will give the normal sizes of bricks by country or standard.

Brick Sizes Table (Length x Width x Height)

Country / Standard

Imperial (inches)

Metric (millimeters)

Australia 9 × 4⅓ × 3 in 230 × 110 × 76 mm
Denmark 9 × 4¼ × 2¼ in 228 × 108 × 54 mm
Germany 9 × 4¼ × 2¾ in 240 × 115 × 71 mm
India 9 × 4¼ × 2¾ in 228 × 107 × 69 mm
Romania 9 × 4¼ × 2½ in 240 × 115 × 63 mm
Russia 10 × 4¾ × 2½ in 250 × 120 × 65 mm
South Africa 8¾ × 4 × 3 in 222 × 106 × 73 mm
Sweden 10 × 4¾ × 2½ in 250 × 120 × 62 mm
United Kingdom 8½ × 4 × 2½ in 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm
United States 7⅝ × 3⅝ × 2¼ in 194 × 92 × 57 mm

As you can see from the above table, there are slight differences in brick sizes in various countries. This may not look much per brick, but you have to remember that there are thousands of them in each structure. So, the little differences add up to quite a lot, and the final dimension varies the number of bricks you would need to build the same structure substantially.

Why do we prefer bricks:

The reason why bricks have been used for literally thousands of years is their availability.

A brick is probably the easiest to make among all basic construction materials. Its ingredients are readily available pretty much everywhere, and it can be manufactured en masse without many tools or expertise.

And once it is made, it can last literally hundreds of years with little care or maintenance. It’s fire-proof and heat-proof to a high degree, doesn’t care about weather, and even can be reused after a wall is torn down.

All these qualities made bricks the favorite building blocks to the constructors, even when technologically advanced options are available.

Brick Size Guide - Brick Sizes Worldwide