Rice Buckets
Who eats the most rice per person?
Who eats the most rice per person?
| # | Country | Rice available for consumption per person, FAO food balance (kg/yr per capita) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 250.6 | 2023 |
| 2 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 200.4 | 2023 |
| 3 | 🇨🇳 China | 130.1 | 2023 |
| 4 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 72.9 | 2022 |
| 5 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 9.4 | 2023 |
Bangladesh leads this card at 250.6, with Italy at 9.4. The gap is 241.2. Bangladesh is 26.66 times Italy.
Bangladesh and the Philippines eat rice at almost every meal. China's average is lower because the north lives on wheat, and Japan eats far less rice than it used to. Note: FAO food supply.
Source: UN FAO Food Balances via Our World in Data See the source.
Past Five
How many do they count to with one hand?
| Tier | Countries |
|---|---|
| 12+ | 🇮🇳 India |
| Counts to 10 | 🇨🇳 China |
| Counts to 5 | 🇺🇸 United States, 🇮🇷 Iran, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
India counts the lines between finger segments, four to a finger, so one hand reaches 20. China counts to five like the United States, then shows six through ten as gestures on that same hand: six is the thumb and the pinky. The United Kingdom runs from thumb to pinky, the United States from index finger to thumb, and Iran starts at the pinky, so each of those stops at five. The article does not name Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, or Egypt.
Source: BBC Future, How the way you count reveals more than you think, 3 September 2021. The country methods are the ones that article describes. Andrea Bender is quoted there on how much finger counting varies. See the source.
Built to Last
Life Expectancy 🇧🇷🇯🇵
| # | Country | Life expectancy at birth, years, 2024 (years) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 84 |
| 2 | 🇦🇱 Albania | 79.8 |
| 3 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 76 |
| 4 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 73.4 |
| 5 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 54.6 |
Poor Albania outlives Russia because Russian men die young from alcohol and heart disease. Nigeria's life expectancy is the lowest in the World Bank series.
Source: World Bank (UN Population Division): Life expectancy at birth (SP.DYN.LE00.IN) See the source.