A king-size bed in Britain is narrower than a queen in Europe
Order a king-size mattress in the UK and you get something 152 centimetres wide. In the United States the same label means 193 centimetres, and in India the bed stretches to 216 centimetres long. Bed names sound universal, yet almost every country keeps its own standards, and the mismatches can be dramatic.
The spread for a single label is wide. A king measures 165 by 203 centimetres in New Zealand, 183 by 203 in Australia, 183 by 191 in Singapore and Malaysia, and 180 by 200 in Indonesia. Meanwhile the typical European queen is 160 by 200 centimetres, already wider than a British king. Even two mattresses with the same nominal size can differ slightly thanks to padding, support type and manufacturing tolerances, and sheets sold for a size may not quite match the mattress.
Growing international trade is slowly pushing things toward uniformity. Most countries that use metric units list beds in centimetres, usually just width and length, while the United States, Canada and other places shaped by the old British Empire tend to use inches. Across Europe, where national variations were once especially numerous, pan-European retailers now mostly sell singles at 90, 100 or 120 centimetres wide and doubles at 160, 180 or 200, with 200 centimetres the usual length. Britain and Ireland still favour 135 and 150 centimetre doubles.
Length matters for taller sleepers. In much of northern and central Europe, from Germany to the Baltic states, the standard mattress length was 190 centimetres until the 1980s; now 200 is normal, and 210 or 220 centimetre beds can be ordered for people roughly 190 or 200 centimetres tall. South Africa sells an XL length of 200 centimetres, suggested for anyone over six feet, and its super king, 200 centimetres wide, comes only in that length.
Some naming systems are charming. Italians count beds in places: una piazza is a single, due piazze a double also called the matrimonial bed, and the in-between size, a place and a half, carries the nickname letto da prete, the priest's bed. In German-speaking and Nordic countries the most common double is 180 by 200 centimetres, often made of two separate mattresses side by side.
Source: Bed size
