over a billion people vs over billion people

The correct phrase is "over a billion people." The article 'a' is necessary before 'billion' to indicate a specific quantity of people. Without the article, the phrase 'over billion people' is incorrect.

Last updated: March 27, 2024 • 701 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

"over a billion people"

This phrase is used to indicate a specific quantity of people, which is more than one billion.

Examples:

Over a billion people watched the event live.
The company has a reach of over a billion people worldwide.
There are over a billion people living in China.
The campaign aims to reach over a billion people with its message.
The app has been downloaded by over a billion people.

Show examples from the web [+]

Islam is the faith of over a billion people.
The finals will be broadcast to over a billion people around the world, live.
The finals will be broadcast to over a billion people around the world, live.
whereas extreme poverty affects hundreds of thousands of men, women and children throughout the world, and over a billion people live on less than a dollar a day,
whereas poverty has increased throughout the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where over a billion people live in extreme poverty and millions of people die every year because of lack of food, health care, access to water and decent living conditions,
Over a billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than a dollar a day.
Now is an excellent time for the newly-enlarged and 450-million-strong European Union, which has been reinvigorated by an influx of new countries, to build links with the Indian economy of over a billion people.
Over a billion people all over the world will have their eyes on us tonight as the ball drops, so I'd say that qualifies as a very big night.
As we heard yesterday, there's over a billion people hungry.
In Asia alone, it will be over a billion people.
Today, over a billion people use the telephone for a few minutes a day.
They have over a billion people in this country, but they have 35,000 local doctors who report paralysis, and clinicians, a huge reporting system in chemists.

This phrase is incorrect in English.

"over billion people"

Show examples from the web [+]

And over 2 billion people have moved to the cities.
Tom Cruise has introduced - LRH technology to over one billion people of Earth.
As we heard yesterday, there's over a billion people hungry.
Over one billion people are living in extreme poverty.
Over one billion people visited the cinema in the EU in 2004, a figure not recorded since 1990.
Islam is the faith of over a billion people.
Over two billion people- almost a third of the world's population- still depend on charcoal.
And with all of these declines we have the near exponential population growth where by 2030 there might be over 8 billion people on this planet.
The finals will be broadcast to over a billion people around the world, live.
In Asia alone, it will be over a billion people.
So it turns out that today, there are over 1.2 billion people learning a foreign language.
Over 2.5 billion people in the world today do not have proper access to water and sanitation.
Today, over a billion people use the telephone for a few minutes a day.
The finals will be broadcast to over a billion people around the world, live.
Over one billion people on planet Earth do not know how to read and write.
These are victims of modern slavery, due to hunger and extreme poverty, which affects over 1 billion people worldwide.
There are currently over 6 billion people on the planet, in the next 25 years this will grow by another 2 billion.
Over a billion people all over the world will have their eyes on us tonight as the ball drops, so I'd say that qualifies as a very big night.
Mr President, according to WHO statistics, over 1 billion people are overweight, and over 300 million are obese.
The concert, on the thirteenth of July, is expected to be watched by a global television audience of over two billion people.

Alternatives:

over a billion people
more than a billion people
in excess of a billion people
above a billion people
billion people or more

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over a billion people vs over billion people