Find out what are the most common bad habits in the world

What are the bad habits of the people around us?

In fact, they are many. Smoking. Drinking. Swearing. Farting … What about the worst practices everywhere else in the world?

To find out, I analysed the search queries “how to stop … “ for each country most frequently searched on Google.

Here I am going to share the results.

The methodology of my study

I listed the most common bad habits and looked at the average monthly Google searches for “how to quit” each of these habits (“how to quit drinking”, “how to quit smoking”, “how to stop biting your nails”, etc.).

After translating these search terms into each local language, I looked at the most searched term on Google in each country for which data was available.

What Bad habits do we have?

We all have bad habits, and some are a bit less harmless (being late, biting our nails, swearing, lying, playing with hair, cracking joints, avoiding eye contact, picking our nose, skipping breakfast, using “Ummm” or “Like” often…) than others, like drinking or smoking, which can negatively impact our health.

And bad habits are usually hard to lose, which is why, all over the world, many of us are looking for advice on how to quit something.

But quit what? What are the most common bad habits?

The 10 most common bad habits in the world

1. Nail biting — 513,000 annual Google searches

Nail-biting is, therefore, a bad habit that people worldwide seek to stop more than any other.

If it is a mania that usually begins in childhood, for many, this habit will settle for life, often triggered by stress, impatience or boredom.

2. Procrastination — 368,700 annual Google searches

Who has never been there? A job to give back or an assignment for school, and we wait until the last minute to do it.

We prioritize innocuous daily tasks instead of focusing on the essential things: checking emails or notifications on social networks, preparing a cup of coffee or simply letting our mind wander, we can be very creative when it comes to finding ways to waste time.

3. Smoking — 356,300 annual Google searches

If we all know that tobacco is dangerous for health, it is a bad habit that quickly becomes an addiction and is challenging to get rid of.

That’s why, around the world, more than 350,000 people a year are looking for ways to quit smoking.

As per the research, smoking prevails in most countries: Germany, France, Italy, Portugal… and in all the Nordic countries except Denmark, where people struggle more with biting their nails.

I noticed that in Spain, the United Kingdom and Lithuania, there are more searches about how to quit drinking than how to quit smoking.

Top bad habits worldwide include:

Biting your nails, Procrastinate, Smoke, Drink, Grinding your teeth, Fart, Being lazy, Belch, Be jealous, Suck your thumb

The worst habit of every country in the world

We also looked at what people were most looking to stop doing in about thirty countries around the world, and we were able to note some specific regional differences:

If in the Anglo-Saxon countries — the United States, Australia, and Canada people seek, above all, to stop procrastinating.

In Latin America, people are interested and would like to stop drinking — Colombia, Chile and Mexico.

In South Korea, smoking and alcohol are the two most common bad habits, while biting the nails wins in Japan.

Bad habits are rather funny

Indeed, among classic bad habits such as quitting smoking or biting your nails.

Thus, in Estonia, for example, the residents are mainly interested in knowing how to stop daydreaming.

In New Zealand, people are looking for how to stop farting (yes, yes), and in Turkey, how to stop eating chocolate.