What’s the Most Average Country?

What’s the most average country in the world? This is half a geography question and half a math question, so it’s a great topic for this channel to tackle. Find out how we decide which national statistics are most relevant, and how we can effectively use the mathematics of averages to determine once and for all which countries are most (and least) average. Let’s explore! Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:29 Picking our statistics 1:41 What countries? What average? 2:42 The most median countries 4:29 The most arithmetic mean countries 6:54 What else? 7:52 Outro Here’s why we multiply the ratios for the arithmetic mean score instead of adding them: it means that the effect of each statistic is “weighted“ more evenly. For instance, the highest score on HDI is just (Somalia), while the highest score on area is 343,085 (Monaco). If we added the scores, HDI would be irrelevant for all but the most average countries, while by multiplying them HDI can still double or halve the total score, which can still move a country up or down a couple of places even if it’s very far from the average. This affects the bottom of the list more than the top - the winners are the same either way. Here’s the data for you to check out yourself: Data citations: UN and IMF tables Taiwan HDI: North Korea, Niue, Cook Islands, Monaco HDI: Image citations: Wiki Infobox: Car Assembly: Marek Ślusarczyk, CC BY Vatican: Anne Offermanns, CC BY Hawk Sound: PsychoBird, CC BY Applause: Vincent Le Moign, CC BY World population cartogram: Max Roser; population data from UN Population Division, CC BY North Korea Victory Day: Stefan Krasowski, CC BY End screen music: “Azərbaycan marşı“ (national anthem of Azerbaijan)