Is a pound heavier in another country?

Answer 1

No...

Not if you're talking "pounds, weight" (or, more accurately, "pounds, mass".)

Sixteen ounces in a pound (mass/weight) is a standard. However, hardly anyone outside of North America uses it, these days...In metric measures, you'd be looking for a package, can or bottle, say, with contents weighing 440-450 grams. That's near enough to 'one pound' for a recipe

The problem is not POUNDS, but OUNCES. There are fluid ounces (for some liquids, for example and different ones for some solids) and various other measurements (for gold, etc,) that are called "ounces" but have no TRUE relationship to the standard pound-weight (or mass) measurement for dried goods, canned foods, etc, in the market-place. There are also a few other 'ounces' that don't equal or total a pound-weight or mass without a lot of arithmetic. [It's crazy, but it's 'traditional', so it must be OK, yeah?]

There is further confusion with ethnic weights and measures which are "close enough" to a pound, eg, the 'kati'...British colonials in South and Southeast Asia became so used to the 'Kati' (or Asian "pound") that the word "tea-caddy" came into English to mean "a container for tea" which weighed reasonably close to a pound in weight/mass...but that's a different story!