Ever wondered which Pokémon is the favourite amongst the people in your home country? Well, it looks like you're in luck.
The folks over at The Toy Zone have conducted a study that explores the popularity of Pokémon's Generation 1 monsters all around the globe. To determine which Pokémon tops each country's popularity charts, the study used Google Search volume data to "identify the Pokémon ranked highest above the global search average". The data was collected in February 2021.
So, while it might not be an exact science, let's take a look at how different regions got on, shall we?
Pikachu unsurprisingly rules the rankings globally, although it's interesting to see little pockets around the world where other creatures seem to dominate. In Europe, for example, plenty of countries seem to like Charizard, while Mew is doing pretty well for itself in the Middle East and Central Asia. Check out the full map below:
And here's a better look at Europe and North America:
Does your country's Gen 1 favourite line up with your own? Are you shocked and appalled by the choices your peers have made? As ever, let us know in the comments.
[source thetoyzone.com]
Comments 68
Indonesian peoples adore Mew ?? 😲
Charizard for Britain, that's a bit boring
Well I guess Charizard is the Canada day main for me.
Gengar eh, hm not bad, not my favorite but it's up there
Unless I'm missing them, I don't see Tauros or Arcanine getting any love, which is a shame as they're my two favorites.
The standout for me is Oman- MAGIKARP!? pretty cool.
I'm disappointed in my country. Who even likes Gengar?! We need to be more like Belarus.
Golem is a German metal band. Paras is a place in Pakistan, and there are people named Paras. Loads of these can be explained that way. If they aren't Pikachu, they most likely refer to something else.
Charizard is popular in the Galar Region? No duh.
is it me or is there no China?
Austrian here: I don't know anyone whos favorite Pokemon is Lapras
Yeah, I remember there was a lot of Charizard fanboys in school.
I see people in Trinidad and Tobago have excellent taste.
As a Pole, I can assure you that we don't worship Abra. (LOL) It would be probably widely known Pikachu
@EDIT
We have shops with furnitures named Abra tho, so you can tell what happened here...
That is a very cool map and really nicely done. But it's missing 700 odd Pokémon.
@SoManyHaveDied "the study used Google Search volume data" That'll be why there is no China as it doesn't exist over there.
Also it surprises me that it is Gen 1 in every country. I would've thought at least 1 from another gen (maybe 2 or 4) would sneak in but nope. Genwunners the lot of us. Charizard for the UK is just so predictable and boring. sigh
I demand individual rankings for the countries within the UK!
@Kiz3000 "Also it surprises me that it is Gen 1 in every country"
It's only gen1 because they only checked gen1:
"...conducted a study that explores the popularity of Pokémon's Generation 1 monsters"
Kinda shocked Gengar is so popular here in America. No one I know really uses Gengar.
I quite like how squirtle shows up exclusively in Latin American countries, and I'm almost 100% it's because of the memes.
lapras #1 in croatia which could be tied to lapras which is a stew we eat around here made from boar snouts and dolphin penii. j/k
The title of the article made no indication that it was only about Gen 1 Pokémon, kinda disappointed.
Hmm. I definitely didn't expect to see Weepinbell and Slowpoke on here.
I'm surprised USA loves gengar and not charizard
@Ogbert D'oh. Thanks for clarifying
I know this is just a bit of fun... but...
1. Who designed that infographic?!
2. How many times do you think people have searched "Coronavirus"? Does that mean Coronavirus is "popular"?!
It seems so cute until you realise a percentage of people are googling for unsavoury fanfic art of Pikachu and Gyrados.
Bulgaria likes MewTwo ... I am no longer part of that country!
@GamerGrandpa I thought Slowpoke would be there somewhere even if it was all gens of Pokemon tbh. But Yeah Weepinbell is an odd one, Paras and Parasect stand out as very unexpected too.
People of Belize are alright in my book!
Not surprised Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia and Russia love Mew, he`s adorable!
As an American who loves Gengar this can't be accurate. I am the only person I've ever known who loves Gengar
Classic North Macedonia.
@Chowdaire have you done a disproportionately large number of Google searches for Gengar, and thrown off the national average?!?
I think this a pretty deeply flawed study, both in method (how common it's searched on google, really?) and in scope (enough with the gen-1-only thing already).
With that said, the real standout here for me is...that art! I was expecting just the official art plastered on, but instead it's different and quite distinct!
@ObeseChihuahua2 I like Gengar (。•́︿•̀。)
What I really want to know is: what makes someone think “I want to trawl through reams of Google data to work out which Pokémon is most popular in over 200 different countries”?
Like, who has the time or interest level to devote to that somewhat esoteric question? Were they sitting round having a chat over lunch one day, someone says “I bet they love Moltres in Argentina” and their colleague goes “nah, it’s totally Cubone”...
@gaga64 Um, obviously. I'll upload my years of documentation into a spreadsheet and post it in Google drive
@Miu You're a disgrace, then. /s
Gengar gang!!! I knew the US was good for something
I'm from Canada and I stan Blastoise, not Charizard -_-
Huh, China is what I was most interested in knowing, oh well.
I bet Puerto Rico is MISSINGNO. That's probably why it didn't show up, kawaiso
The Alt crowd complains every game, but Gen 1 still dominates.
@AlienX I'm currently living in China and I can say first hand people LOVE psyduck and slowpoke. they're in memes and KFC toys and everything
WTHTGF Oman?
I mean, I love you for it, but how is that even possible?
@ChibiNinja
Methodology is solid. What possible argument could be made that "how often people want to know more about a thing" isn't a measure of that things popularity? Especially when you consider this captures things like people searching for merch, fanart, crafts, and other clear indicators of popularity that something like metadata wouldn't.
Not perfect does not equal bad.
@Octane indeed! Here in the Philippines, Abra is a famous rapper and a province so its def not known for pokemon.
I love Gengar but I didn't expect to see it anywhere on this list, let alone my own country!
I don't know any other Gengar fans here, but wherever you are, I am proud of you!
Had no idea that Ghana loved Gloom. Should’ve been Swampert
@path4smash Dragonair is an airline company in Cambodia. I also think a good chunk of them are Pokemon GO google requests.
@Zuljaras
I prefer Mew myself.
i brazilian, but i getting sick of the over exposure of Chamander and Charizard.
@SoManyHaveDied It's not just you.
I wonder if Squirtle's popularity in Mexico is due to a certain meme...
Abra? I would have guessed Psyduck.
@Ulysses You should read the article again, they only compared the data for gen1 Pokémon. Every gen has good and bad and everyone has a different opinion on which is which.
There was actually an article on here not too long ago about Japan’s top 20odd Pokémon done in an actual survey and it’s quite a mix across gens. Plus as many have pointed out someone googling a Pokémon doesn’t mean it’s their favourite, which is how this result is taking it. People could be googling it because it’s hard to get in the Pokémon Go where they are or a regional meme etc. It’s fun but wildly inaccurate on many levels. All it really tells us is what Pokémon are googled where and that the people putting it together have at least one talented graphic designer.
Why only take into account Gen I Pokemon? yawns So boring.
***** gen 1 pandering
@Octane Graveler in Fiji. Gloom in several African countries.
@Octane as others have pointed out, some of those could be just names of things in some countries.
I'm Brazilian and Onix, besides being a type of stone, is a type of very affordable Chevrolet car (also probably accounts for most of the Onix searches in other Latin American countries). Kabuto is simply the word for "helmet" in Japan, there isn't a gigantic Kabuto fandom we've never heard of before. There are probably tons of other examples.
I’m betting Lapras won in Scotland but we end up with whatever nonsense England voted for as usual. 😉
Gengar is a cool choice for US. I personally would have picked Charizard or Raichu but Gengar is cool
@dux I... did point that out.
@Octane yeah I was trying to give you credit for that, sorry if that wasn't clear
The United States' favorite is Gengar. Very rarely am I actually proud of my country: this is one of those fleeting moments.
Yay, Mexico loves Squirtle!
Not surprised about Eevee being the favorite in Denmark. ^^
It's my personal favorite since 25 years, and turns out my nephew feels the same.
@Ogbert Good points! I guess that's what I get for typing out a flippant comment for a flippant article
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