The Countries and States That Laugh the Most—and Least!—Online (With Maps)

According to one study, the average adult laughs just 15 times every day (as opposed to the average child, who laughs more than 400 times). But it seems we’re all a bit more expressive when it comes to finding things funny online: Fascinating new research by Bored Panda has shown just how much people around the world laugh on the internet every day.

Country by country, the study analyzed a staggering 30 million geotagged posts on X (formerly Twitter), and counted the number of times the posts expressed laughter—either in the form of an emoji, or straightforward text (like “ha ha ha!” or “lol”).

1. What Countries Laugh the Most—and the Least?
2. Put on a Laughing Face
3. Breaking Down Laughter Online State by State (and City by City)

What Countries Laugh the Most—and the Least?

Of all the nations of the world, it was the Philippines that laughed the most: For every 1000 Filipino posts, some form of laughter was included in 119.6 of them, equivalent to almost one in every eight. Compare that to the United States, which came in eighth in North America: On average, Americans laughed online in just 48.6 posts per 1000, far below the continent leader, Guatemala, which scored 77.6.

Elsewhere around the world, the U.S. fared about as well as the UK (which was ranked first in Europe, with a score of 48) followed closely by Spain (42.3) and France (41.6).

Paraguay (82.6) came out on top in South America, South Africa (106.8) in Africa, and Australia (38) in Oceania.

At the opposite end of the scale, Bangladesh proved to be the country that laughs the least, with just six instances of online laughter out of every 1000 posts. Other nations similarly at the lower end of the scale included Afghanistan (9), Moldova (14.8), and Algeria (19.5).

Put on a Laughing Face

But it is not just how often we laugh that changes around the world, but how we express that laughter too. The Bored Panda study also looked at the use of individual emojis, and in doing so landed on some intriguing global trends.

In the Americas, for instance, 18 countries—among them Brazil, Argentina, and Jamaica—were found to use the Rolling on the Floor Laughing emoji (🤣) more than any other when it came to expressing their laughter online. The U.S., meanwhile, was the only country in all of North and South America to prefer the classic Face with Tears of Joy (😂), while Canada was one of just two (alongside Bolivia) that preferred the Grinning Squinting Face (😆).

Europe typically followed America’s suit, with the ROFL face scoring highly in the likes of Germany, Spain, and both the UK and Ireland, and the squinting face in Switzerland, Norway, and Poland. But in Africa, the Middle East, and much of southern Asia, there was a decidedly feline twist to the data, with many countries—including South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates—preferring the Cat with Tears of Joy emoji (😹) above all others.

Breaking Down Laughter Online State by State (and City by City)

Bored Panda also broke down the data state by state in the U.S.

Louisianians, with a score of 71.8, were ultimately found to laugh online a full three times as often as the state that came in last, Vermont (with a score of 22.8).

Louisiana was also one of 11 states that preferred the feline Cat with Tears of Joy emoji (😹), while Vermonters were one of just nine that stuck with the more sedate Face with Tears of Joy (😂).

As a last laugh, the data was also finally organized city by city, which showed that both the city that laughs the most in America and the city that laughs the least are located in California. Some 87 X posts per 1000 sent from Jurupa Valley were found to contain some kind of laughter, while those sent from nearby Berkeley scored a lowly 11.3.

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