Personal Space Preferences by Country

The Story It might have taken the COVID-19 pandemic to formalize the concept of "social distancing" in all our minds, but the truth is that we all have an ingrained sense of how close (or distant) we prefer people to stand or sit from us. To be sure, we have greater tolerance for family and friends entering our personal space, but when it comes to strangers, most of us have certain minimum space requirements we like to adhere to, and when these are violated — on a packed subway car, for example, or in a concert venue — we may get very uncomfortable. RELATED: The Countries That Love Sex Toys the Most Interestingly enough, the amount of space we like to keep for ourselves varies a great deal by country. A new survey conducted by Preply, a US-based online language learning platform with a footprint in over 30 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, has shed light on just how dramatic these variations are, and enabled Preply to rank countries by how much personal space their citizens like to take.  The Snapshot What stands out to you at a glance? The Preply researchers noticed some commonalities: citizens of warmer countries, for example, tended to be more comfortable with other people getting close than their cold-country counterparts, while both older people and female respondents prized more space.  Both Americans and Germans (famously closed off people!) were more comfortable with closer distances than the Brits, who have a reputation for valuing privacy, but even the British were more tolerant of others in their space than the Canadians, who enjoy an international reputation of friendliness and openness.  The Lesson Some of the findings definitely lend support to national stereotypes. The Greeks, for example, famous for big hugs and other effusive physical gestures, were among the most tolerant of smaller personal spaces, while the Japanese, in whose culture it is customary to bow upon meeting rather than shake hands, preferred greater space, but we should be wary of making overly broad generalizations, or of presuming that one preference is inherently better than another.  Still, this study sheds some very interesting light on cultural preferences, and how easily and dramatically they can vary from one country to another.  You Might Also Dig: 9 Dos and Don'ts of Mental HealthBest Things to Do When You're a Single GuyThe Benefits of Cold Water Therapy