Top 10: Most patient countries

You might think that the British are paragons of patience. After all, who can queue like we do?

But in fact, according to a study published in 2018, the UK only comes in 10th place. Participants in the study were asked questions like “Would you rather receive a payment today or a larger payment in 12 months?” and “How willing are you to give up something that is beneficial for you today in order to benefit more from that in the future?”.

Each country was then given a score showing how it ranked in comparison to the global average. A score of 0 would be exactly equal to the mean, while a positive score is above average and a negative score is below.

Read on to see which countries topped the list.

10. United Kingdom

0.54

9. Finland

0.60

8. Austria

0.61

7. Germany

0.62

6. Australia

0.66

5. Switzerland

0.67

4. Canada

0.72

3. United States

0.81

2. Netherlands

0.95

1. Sweden

1.07

from... sciencefocus.com