The Most Important Books Around the World, According to Facebook
Facebook has spoken: Harry Potter is a global favorite, no matter what language it's in.
Back in September, the social network was aflutter with posts asking people to list 10 books that had stayed with them in some way. Thousands of users shared the status, and Facebook's data team subsequently compiled a list of the 10 books that appeared most often in more than 130,000 posts.
Those numbers, however, were based upon English-language statuses and were heavily skewed toward posts from the United States and the United Kingdom. To remedy this, the team performed the same study, only this time it included entries from Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil, India and France. (The latter two countries are English-language lists.)
The results: Harry Potter reigned supreme. In every country except Mexico, J.K. Rowling's epic seven-book saga came in first — and it finished close to the front on our southern neighbor's list, coming in third.
Here are the top ten lists for every country — the full 100 for each can be found here.
Italy (average age 34.7, 73% female):
1. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2. Cent'anni di solitudine, Gabriel García Márquez
3. Il ritratto di Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
4. Orgoglio e pregiudizio, Jane Austen
5. Il signore degli anelli, J.R.R. Tolkien
6. Il cacciatore di aquiloni, Khaled Hosseini
7. Il nome della rosa, Umberto Eco
8. Il piccolo principe, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
9. Se questo è un uomo, Primo Levi
10. Mille splendidi soli, Khaled Hosseini
Mexico (average age 30.0, 63% female):
1. Cien años de soledad, Gabriel García Márquez
2. El principito, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
3. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
4. El perfume, Patrick Süskind
5. Aura, Carlos Fuentes
6. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Gabriel García Márquez
7. Rayuela, Julio Cortázar
8. El diario de Ana Frank, Anne Frank
9. La tregua, Mario Benedetti
10. It, Stephen King
Philippines (English language text, average age 24.7, 78% female):
1. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
2. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
3. The Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins
4. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
5. Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
6. The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
7. Divergent Trilogy, Veronica Roth
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
9. Looking for Alaska, John Green
10. Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan
Brazil (average age 28.1, 72% female):
1. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2. A Culpa é das Estrelas, John Green
3. O Pequeno Príncipe, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
4. A menina que roubava livros, Markus Zusak
5. A Cabana, William P. Young
6. O Caçador de Pipas, Khaled Hosseini
7. Jogos Vorazes, Suzanne Collins
8. A Seleção, Kiera Cass
9. Coração de Tinta, Cornelia Funke
10. Bíblia
India (English language text, average age 24.9, 61% female):
1. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
2. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
3. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
5. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
8. Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
10. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
France (average age 36.3, 74% female):
1. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2. Le petit prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
3. Ça, Stephen King
4. Le seigneur des anneaux, J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Les fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire
6. 1984, George Orwell
7. L'alchimiste, Paulo Coelho
8. L'étranger, Albert Camus
9. Les fourmis, Bernard Werber
10. Le parfum, Patrick Süskind
Somewhere, J.K. Rowling is smiling.
