Swedes most likely to call selves 'funny'

June 01, 2013, 10:12 AM GMT+0

In YouGov's latest EuroTrack poll, nearly six in ten Swedes report being funny – while almost a third of the British public call themselves unfunny

Britons pride themselves on their sense of humour, love to claim other nations ‘just don’t get’ it, and can boast sit-coms successful as international exports; The Office has seven international versions, including a Swedish re-make. But are the British people really that funny? YouGov asks the public of six European nations to self-rate their sense of humour and joke-making abilities in its latest EuroTrack poll.

When asked if they agree with the statement “I have a good sense of humour”, the Swedes and Danish come out on top: 90% and 91% agree, respectively. Britons come third, with 89% in agreement, followed by the Germans (87%) and the Finnish (81%). The French are the least good humoured, with 79% reporting a sense for it.

On their abilities to actually make people laugh, all the countries rate themselves lower; but again, the Swedes are most confident with 57% agreeing to the statement “I am a funny person” and 22% disagreeing. Half of Britons boast being funny, but they also have the biggest group (31%) who say they are not.

Next week YouGov will release more research on how Europeans view Europeans, revealing which nations are reported to be the most and least hardworking and honest.

See the full poll results

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