{"id":924,"date":"2022-01-14T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T18:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=106516"},"modified":"2022-01-14T19:27:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T18:27:09","slug":"are-there-more-left-handed-people-in-societies-where-the-written-word-flows-right-to-left","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/are-there-more-left-handed-people-in-societies-where-the-written-word-flows-right-to-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Are there more left-handed people in societies where the written word flows right to left?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Luis Villazon\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 14 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Quite the reverse. Various surveys have found that the highest incidence of left-handedness is in Western countries. The Netherlands, the USA and Canada lead with around 13 per cent of the population being left-handed<\/a> and the UK is only just behind.<\/p>\n

The countries that use right-to-left writing systems are predominantly Arab and Asian and they all have left-handedness rates below 6 per cent. In Muslim countries, the advantage of smudge-free handwriting is outweighed by the fact that the left hand is considered unclean. Writing, eating and shaking hands is all done with the right hand and naturally left-handed children are taught to use their right hands for these tasks from an early age.<\/p>\n

Asked by: Javier Rodr\u00edguez, Madrid<\/strong><\/p>\n

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