People > Size of houses: Countries Compared

The only point being made here is that people in the top five countries for this statistic have a lot of space, and that they all speak English, which is a factor of their sharing a common mother country. It isn’t surprising for the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Australia to have such large houses, since those countries all have <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/geo_pop_den>population densities</a> of less than 30 people per square kilometer, far less than the United Kingdom’s rate of 244.69 people per square kilometer. <p>One point I could make is that, along with its language, England also exported a culture which valued individuality and privacy, and also that these former colonies have prospered economically, with New Zealand having the lowest ranking of the five in <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_gdp_cap>GDP per capita</a>, at 35th-highest in the world. Presumably, people in Pakistan, India and Nicaragua would build houses large enough so that up to three people didn’t have to share a room, if they could afford to. <p>Other points could also be made, such as the relationship that seems to exist between controlled <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_pop_gro_rat&int=-1>population growth</a> (all five of the countries with the largest houses have an average annual increase of less than one percent) and a higher standard of living. Of course, there is no way to tell which way this relationship works. Do people <a href=http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/peo_tot_fer_rat&int=-1>have fewer children</a> as living standards rise or vice-versa?

The top five countries for size of houses are all English-speaking and, with the exception of their common mother country (the United Kingdom), share a common history as one-time British colonies. <p> Over 70 percent of houses in these countries have five or more rooms, but Australia, at 13 percent, is the only one where more than 10 percent of <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_hou_wit_mor_tha_5_peo>households have five or more people</a>. <p>The <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_ave_siz_of_hou>average household size</a> in Canada, the U.S. and Australia is 2.6 people. That’s equal to or less than the number of <a href= http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_per_per_roo>people per room</a> in Pakistan, India and Nicaragua.