An international group of scientists from Great Britain, France and Switzerland found out which countries in the world have the highest and lowest percentage of left-handed people in the population. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences (PRSBS).
According to previous research, 10.6% of the world’s population is left-hand dominant.
Scientists analyzed data from 422.7 thousand people from 41 countries collected using the Sea Hero Quest app, a mobile video game in which participants voluntarily provide information to scientists to advance science.
As it turns out, the majority of left-handers in the world live in the Netherlands – the figure was 12.95%. This is followed by the United Arab Emirates (12.9%), Israel (12.88%), Puerto Rico (12.3%) and the Philippines (12.21%).
The country with the lowest number of left-handed people in the population is China; Only 2.64% of residents use their left hand as their main hand, which is four times lower than the world average. In second place is Indonesia (3.39%), followed by Vietnam (4.26%), Hong Kong (4.85%) and Taiwan (5.16%). Scientists noted that all major countries with a low percentage of left-handers are located in Asia.
Scientists have suggested that the low number of left-handers in China is due to children being retrained in schools to use their right hands.
Previous scientists listed Situations in which a person may be left-handed.