Stars and Stripes
Who favors the United States?
Who favors the United States?
| # | Country | Favorable opinion of the United States (%) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 83 | 2025 |
| 2 | 🇭🇺 Hungary | 60 | |
| 3 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 56 | |
| 4 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 50 | |
| 5 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 29 | |
| 6 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 19 |
Israel leads this card at 83, with Sweden at 19. The gap is 64 %. Israel is 4.37 times Sweden.
Israel is most favorable, in line with a close security alliance. Mexico's view fell from 61% to 29% in one year. Sweden is the least favorable. This is the share with a favorable view of the United States in Pew's 2025 survey, not a choice of the United States over China.
Source: Pew Research Center, Spring 2025 Global Attitudes Survey (Jan 8–Apr 26 2025; published June 11, 2025) See the source.
Heavier Than America
Name a country starting with N where a larger share of adults have obesity than in the United States.
| # | Country | Adult obesity (% of adults) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇳🇷 Nauru | 71.4 | |
| 2 | 🇳🇺 Niue | 66.2 |
Nauru is 71.4% and Niue is 66.2%, both above the United States at 41.8%. New Zealand starts with N and misses at 34.7%. This is the share of adults with a BMI of 30 or more, not average weight.
Source: WHO / NCD-RisC via Our World in Data. Adults with BMI at or above 30, crude estimate. See the source.
Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs was first made in which country?
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Häagen-Dazs | USA |
Reuben and Rose Mattus made up the name on their couch in the Bronx around 1960 and printed a map of Denmark on the carton. Danish uses neither ä nor zs. The name was meant to sound imported.
Source: New York Times, Rose Mattus obituary See the source.
Halfway Through
Median age
| # | Country | Median age of the population (years (median age)) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 48.96 | 2023 |
| 2 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 47.46 | 2023 |
| 3 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 46.15 | 2023 |
| 4 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 44.49 | 2023 |
| 5 | 🇺🇸 United States | 38.02 | 2023 |
| 6 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 17.75 | 2023 |
South Korea (44.49 years) and Hong Kong (46.15) are both older than the United States (38.02). In 2023, fertility was 0.72 births per woman in South Korea and 0.72 in Hong Kong, against 1.62 in the United States. Nigeria's fertility was 4.48, and its median age is 17.75.
Source: UN World Population Prospects 2024 See the source.