Christmas tree statistics

USA
•36 million – Estimated number of real Christmas trees to be sold in 2006
•46 million – Households that plan to use an artificial tree in 2006 >

UK
Around eight million trees are sold in this country every year. Most of these trees are grown in the UK. Currently, around a third of homes buy a real Christmas tree, around a third have an artificial Christmas tree and around a third have no tree at all. According to the BCTGA, the market is dominated by the Nordmann fir, of which more than four million are sold every year. >

DE
28 Millionen Christbäume wurden 2008 in Deutschland gekauft. >

Television viewing

A survey for 2009 by Media Control shows how much TV Germans watch:

Average TV viewing per day: 212 minutes (3 1/2 hrs)
Age 14-49: 182 minutes (3 hrs)
Highest rise - Saxony: 182 minutes (3 hrs), 18 minutes longer than 2008.
Most watching - Brandenburg: 262 minutes (4 hrs 22 mins)
Over-50s in Berlin: 333 minutes (5 1/2 hrs)
Age 3-18 in Berlin: 75 minutes (1 hr 15 mins)

An Ofcom report for 2008 shows that the average number of TV watching minutes in the Uk in 2008 was 225, and in Germany 207. (USA: 277)
It also shows that a TV licence cost £140 in the UK and £163 in Germany, also in 2008.

The CHILDWISE Trends Report 2009 reports that British children age 5-16 watch an average of 2.7 hours per day, up from a low of 2.4 hours in 2006.

Fat man of Europe

I'm a little confused. I always thought the UK was the fat man of Europe, and have put up with teasing by Germans (not necessarily thinner than me) about how fat and lazy British people are, convinced that they were actually quite right.
Now on ARD someone mentioned in passing that Germans are the fattest in Europe. Looking it up I find a 2005 document by the International Obesity Task Force:

A study comparing Germany between 1985 and 2002 suggests higher rates than the USA in terms of overweight, with a recent survey suggesting 75% of German men age 25 or over were overweight or obese. This figure is surpassed only in Greece [...] >>

The study is by the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO). It's not exactly in favour of Britain: as a Spiegel article from 2007 puts it:

A new study has found that Germany has the highest proportion of overweight people in Europe, partly due to the country's high beer consumption. But Britain, Greece and some Eastern Europe countries have an even higher share of truly obese people.

>>

The Spiegel article has a photo of a fat person ... in Britain. Huh.

The figures, collected from 2002-2004 and presented in 2007, show:

Overweight men (BMI of 25-29.9) - Germany 52.9%, England
43.9%

Overweight women (BMI of 25-29.9) - Germany 35.6%, England
34.7%

Obese men (BMI above 30) - Germany 22.5%, England 22.7%

Obese women (BMI above 30) - Germany 23.3%, England
23.8%

So the Bild's image of Brits with wabblige Bierbäuche is not quite as fair as you might think?

A more recent article in Bild in April 2009 said that British women have a higher average BMI than German women - the highest in Europe. It described how Thibaut de Saint Pol, a French researcher, studied women from 15 EU countries and said that British ladies' average BMI is 26.2, and German ladies' is 24.

However, de Saint Pol's BMI figures are not original research, but are apparently taken from the EC's Eurobarometer 59.0 - which is from the year 2003: the figures are older than those in the IASO's study.

A more recent Eurobarometer (64.3, from 2006) has Germans with an average weight/height ratio of 0.435 and Brits with a ratio of 0.433, i.e. almost exactly the same.

When do people start work?

A survey shows what time people start work in various EU countries.

In March 2009, over the previous 6 months the average time for German workers was 8.44 and for British workers it was 9.10.

According to the Guardian the survey is by OfficeMetrics, a software company, and covered 80,000 users of their software.

Winter tyre statistics

In the UK, where annual temperatures often range from -15°C to 30°C, usage of cold weather (winter) tyres is far less common, as legislation dictating changeover does not exist. >
In Germany legislation was brought in on May 1 2006. The traffic regulations (StVO) now say that cars must be fitted to suit the weather conditions, including having appropriate tyres. What is "appropriate" is not described in any more detail. If drivers contravene the rule, they pay a EUR 20 fee; if they hold up the traffic, there is a EUR 40 fee and they get a penalty point on their licence.
75% of people in the UK would not consider fitting winter tyres. >
Winter tyres are a mere three percent of the UK's total tyre market. This poor statistic compares with ... 50 per cent in Germany. >
(2006) 77 percent of German drivers have a set of winter tyres; 6 percent use all-season tyres.... 80 percent of those who change their tyres do so when the temperature drops below 10°C; one in ten waits for the first snowfall. >
In Germany, winter tyres are recommended when the temperature (day or night) drops below 7°C. Winter 2007/8 in the UK - The final mean value for the season is 4.9 °C >
(2006) In Bavaria, 90% of drivers have winter tyres, in eastern Germany, 70 percent have them. In western Germany, almost one in five uses summer tyres all year round, and in northern Germany that is the case for one in four. In Lower Saxony 40 percent of drivers use summer tyres all year round. >

Drugs statistics - young people

Taken from
The life of women and men in Europe
2008 edition

Proportion of young men and women aged 15-24 who smoke, 2004

Germany
women = about 44 %
men = about 50 %

UK
women = about 36 %
men = about 32 %

Use of cannabis among students aged 15-16, 2003

Proportion having used cannabis 40+ times

Germany
Girls = about 3 %
Boys = about 6 %

UK
Girls = about 6 %
Boys = about 13 %

Britons richer than Germans

In 2008 UK GDP per capita (£23,500) will be higher than in Germany (£21,665), according to Analyst Oxford Economics. BBC

Student statistics

Time spent studying
"The Higher Education Policy Institute surveyed 15,000 first and second year [British] students. It found they averaged 26 hours of teaching and private study ... Those taking their first degree in Germany typically spend nearly 35 hours per week in total studying" news.bbc.co.uk

Eurostudent 2005:

Average age of male and female students, arithm. mean, in years
DE: M 24.8, F 24
UK: M 27.2, F 28.6
"At 28 years, the very highest average age is found among students in United Kingdom, where a high percentage of students are enrolled at the age of 34 and higher and the share of students with part-time status is comparatively high (cf. Fig. 12). Especially women start their studies only after their children have reached school age." ove-national.education.fr

Religion

"Heute sind in Westdeutschland 74 Prozent der Wohnbevölkerung Mitglied einer christlichen Kirche. In Ostdeutschland sind es nur noch 27 Prozent. Im gesamtdeutschen Durchschnitt ergibt das gut 64 Prozent." a

"Nine in 10 (91 percent) of American adults say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. Christians far outnumber members of any other faith in the country, with 82 percent of the poll’s respondents identifying themselves as such. " b

"About half of the British believe in God, yet about 72% told the 2001 census that they were Christian, and 66% of the population have no actual connection to any religion or church" c