A little dose of statistics

Nationmaster is a treasure trove of both interesting and useless statistics. You can spend ages exploring it, which is what I just did.

For example, did you know that Belgium ranks third in bottled water consumption and at number 5 for soft drinks consumption?

As far as tobacco goes, Belgium has the questionable honour of ranking in second place worldwide for its number of daily smokers. In light of this, the public opposition to a smoking ban in bars isn’t surprising.

Keeping off the roads here might be a good idea considering the fact Belgium comes in second just behind the United States for motor vehicle deaths. When you look at the number of motor vehicles per 1000 people it makes the previous stat all the more frightening: the United States is still at first place but Belgium has dropped to number 14. The roads of Belgium must be populated by homicidal maniacs…

If you should have a car crash with one of these homicidal maniacs, would you call the police? Only 51% of Belgians trust the men in blue. Talking of trust, a measly 34% of Belgians trust other people, ranking down at number 15 worldwide, that’s sad.

Even sadder is the fact that this little country is right up there on the top spot when it concerns not wanting immigrants as neighbours. Belgium’s position at number 3 for voting far-right won’t come as too much of a surprise then (Ireland at number 1 neither - their late entry into the world of immigration has provoked lots of spitting of venom).

No surprise on the tax chart either, we have a winner!

And that’s only a taste of what’s available. Dig away!