Sorry, Britain's NOT the funniest country | UK comes 18th in a list of witty nations © Crown Copyright/defenceimages.mod.uk

Sorry, Britain's NOT the funniest country

UK comes 18th in a list of witty nations

Britain might pride itself on its sense of humour – but a new international ranking puts the UK behind 17 other countries.

The Czech Republic came out top of a study to find the ‘funniest nation’, with a strong line in  self-deprecating humour.

Portugal came second followed by Ireland, Belgium, Chile, Greece and Australia. But  it’s bad news for America, which came 29th out of the 30 countries – ahead only of the Philippines.

If it's any consolation, Britain did come ahead of Germany,

To come up with their results, researchers used the Humour Styles Questionnaire developed by Rod Martin, an academic expert in the psychology of humour, and his colleagues in 2003 and published in the Journal of Research in Personality It is designed to help researchers understand how people use humour in their everyday lives.

For the study commissioned by money transfer company Remitly, more than 6,000 respondents from the 30 countries,

Out of a possible score of 112, the Czech Republic registered 72.33 out of 112. Researchers said Czechs excel at 'self-defeating' humour and also rank highly for sharp irony and sarcasm. ‘This isn't your typical loud, performative comedy. Czech humour is legendarily dry, operating through deadpan delivery and subtle verbal jabs, ‘ they said.

Portugal’s sense of humour was said to ‘blend both warmth and wit… they often use humour to charm, tease and disarm’, while Ireland scored well for ‘affiliative and self-enhancing humour’. Affiliative humour involves telling jokes about things that everyone might find funny to bring people together to find the humour in everyday life. 

Of Australia, the team said: ‘Aussies are known for having a dry, sarcastic and direct sense of humour… People from Australia score highly across the self-defeating and aggressive styles, which means whilst they might make fun of others, they’re also more than happy to make fun of themselves too.’

 Psychologists often group humour in to four types. Top of the table for ‘affiliative humour’ was  South Africa, followed by Ireland  and Portugal

Self-enhancing humour helps people stay optimistic and resilient during challenging or stressful periods. South Africa again claims the top spot, followed by the Philippines and the United States.

Hungary came top of the table for aggressive humour, characterised by sarcasm, teasing, and ridicule, followed by Poland  and the Czech Republic.

While the Czechs came top for self-defeating humour, putting oneself down, often to gain approval, mask vulnerability, or avoid confrontation. Poland came second followed by Australia

The world’s funniest countries

...and their scores in the survey.

1 Czech Republic  72.33
2 Portugal 71.42
3 Ireland 71.18
4 Belgium 71.12
5 Chile 71.08
5 Greece 71.08
7 Australia  71.05
8 Poland 70.87
9 Denmark 70.61
10 Hungary 70.55
11 Switzerland 70.30
12 Netherlands 70.13
13 France 70.08
14 Mexico  70.02
15 Austria 69.83
6 Estonia 69.51
17 Canada  69.50
18 United Kingdom 69.48
19 South Africa 69.26
20 Norway 69.14
21 Finland 69.03
22 Sweden 68.83
23 Spain 68.64
24 Brazil 68.59
25 New Zealand  68.42
26 Japan  68.23
27 Germany 68.21
28 Italy 67.96
29 United States  67.85
30 Philippines  67.03

Published: 3 Jul 2025

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