A large majority of right-handed in the world: but why?

The online platform Statista, which collects and provides market data, statistics and studies from thousands of sources, confirms this: according to experts, there are 800 million left-handed in the world, or only 10% of the global population.

Belgium and the United States, with 13.1%, are among the countries with the highest prevalence of left-handed people. The Netherlands ranks first in the top three, with 13.2%. China and Mexico, on the other hand, have very few left-handed people (3.5% and 2.5%).

Left-handed, so few because...

The first hypothesis put forward concerns certain genetic variants. As you probably know, the brain is composed of a right hemisphere, controlling the left side of the human body, and a left hemisphere, controlling the right side of the body. According to several British researchers, certain genetic variants are present 2.7 times more often in left-handed people. To obtain their results, these scientists analyzed DNA sequencing data from more than 30,000 left-handed people and more than 300,000 right-handed people. The variants reviewed contribute to the production of tubulins, a specific family of proteins. These proteins impact brain development and, during its formative period, the establishment of right-hemisphere predominance in left-handed people, reports the Belgian media RTBF.

Finally, the position of the fetus in the mother's womb could also have an influence on the number of right-handed people in the world: the fetus's right limbs in utero are most often located near the mother's soft tissues. As infant development specialist Jacqueline Fagard points out, "toward the end of pregnancy, the fetus tends to turn its head to the right and move its right limbs because these are located on the soft tissue side, which gives it more range of motion."

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source : RTBF - Illustration : ©Unplash)