• 19th April 2013

How like a German are you?

German newspaper Die Welt has come up with a statistical picture of the typical German household. Here are some highlights, for what they’re worth.

–        German men are on average 1.79 metres (5ft 10in) tall, weigh 83 kilos, and wear a size 10 shoe. German women are 1.65 metres (5ft 5in) tall, weigh 68 kilos, wear a size eight shoe, and a 36C bra.

–        Every second man dreams of a love affair with a nurse. Then come stewardesses (40 percent) and doctors (35 percent). Women on the other hand are attracted to pilots, doctors, lawyers, and policemen.

–        Germans drink 110 litres of beer per person per year, although that is a declining number. They also consume 246 apples, 212 eggs, 24 kilos of tomatoes, 22 kilos of cheese and almost 60 kilos of meat: pork, beef, poultry (but no horsemeat).

–        Each household produces an average of 173.4 kilos of household waste, plus a further 60 kilos of just potato peelings.

–        About 15 percent of 3- to 17-year-olds are overweight, and are in receipt of an average of €23 per month in pocket money.

–        The VW Golf (especially in metallic silver) is the undisputed favourite choice amongst cars. Men select their cars by their engine power, women by their colour, but there’s a surprise statistic in that it is women (65 percent) who depend more on their own set of wheels than men (59 percent).

–        Households spend 207 minutes per day watching television, and 45 percent are satisfied with the quality of programming. Crime series are the most popular.

–        Only a third of Germans clean their fridge once a month, which is the hygiene experts’ recommended minimum. Twenty percent only clean it once a year. And yet 33 percent of arguments between couples arise over how their fridge contents are organised. Which surely is a little bit weird.