If you’ve ever wondered what people overseas think about the UK, wonder no more. We’ve crunched the data and can reveal PRECISELY what people from all over the world want to know before they move to or visit the UK.

A team of researchers based in 13 countries collated the local Google autocomplete suggestions for search terms relating to Great Britain, the United Kingdom and the popular tourist and residential locations over here.

The results are fascinating, hilarious and at times, a little worrying.

For example, why are people in Poland so concerned with the safety of our largest cities?

And why do South Africans need to know whether the UK has a death penalty?

Many of the queries were related to the standard of living over here. The weather, the shops and of course, weather the Lake District has wifi are all legitimate concerns for a savvy traveller looking to visit or relocate to the UK.

Here are our favourites. Head to the bottom of the page for the full results.

 

 

Moving to London from New Zealand

london

Here’s what Americans want to know about Bath.
bath

Germans don’t know what Yorkshire is…

yorkshire (1)

The most searched query about Birmingham from people in the UK…
birmingham Optimistic Kiwis want to know if they can get into Cambridge.cambridge We’ve all wondered about this one, actually.
cotswolds (1)
South Africa’s top questions about Edinburgh
edinburgh

Yes, it has pandas and a Primark. In fact, Scotland used to have more pandas than Conservative MPs, thanks to Edinburgh Zoo.

Yes Spain, Glasgow is safe.
glasgow Kiwis on the Lake District…
lakedistrict
Yes, Kiwis. It has wifi. It also has stunning scenery, great food and no snakes.

That’s the spirit, Poland.oxford

 

And here’s a map of the British Isles, according to Google searches performed overseas.

 

 

Google Autocomplete map of the UK

 

Top queries – English speaking queries

 

Query   Canadian Google Australian Google New Zealand Google American Google British Google Irish Google South African Google
Does… Great Britain include Ireland have a president use miles rule Canada include Ireland include northern Ireland have the death penalty
Does… United Kingdom have states have states have a written constitution have universal healthcare have a constitution have a federal government
Does… England have provinces have snakes have snakes use the euro have a constitution want northern Ireland have a 4th of july
Does… Wales have a prime minister compete in the olympics have its own language have a king have its own parliament have an olympic team have a football league
Does… Northern Ireland use pounds compete in the olympics want to leave the uk want to leave the uk have an olympic team accept euros have an olympic team
Does… Scotland have provinces have bears have an olympic team belong to England have a veto on Brexit? use the euro use the euro
Does… London have a Walmart have uber get snow have uber have hard water have uber
Does… Manchester have an international airport united have snapchat airport close at night united play tomorrow airport have wifi airport close at night
Does… Liverpool play today play today have an airport have an airport have a christmas market qualify for europa league
Does… Glasgow snow have uber airport have a train station have uber have a flag have uber
Does… Edinburgh zoo have pandas have a beach have an airport have a subway have uber zoo have pandas
Does… Cardiff have a beach have a beach have uber have a beach have a beach have a beach
Does… Yorkshire terrier shed tea contain pesticides pudding have gluten pudding have gluten bank open on a saturday tea come from yorkshire
Does… The Cotswolds what does the Cotswolds mean what does the Cotswolds mean what does the Cotswolds mean what area does the Cotswolds cover where do the Cotswolds start what countries does the cotswolds cover
Does… Bath and bodyworks sell in china have a Primark and body lotion expire have a cathedral have a park and ride
Does… the Lake District have mountains have wifi have wifi have a beach have a beach have wifi
Does… Birmingham zoo have wifi have uber have uber have a zoo airport have a smoking area have a port
Does… Oxford have a medical school have uber care about GCSEs accept transfer students accept btec have a business school
Does… Cambridge accept transfer students accept btec accept btec accept transfer students accept btec have a christmas market
Does… York university have a gym have a beach have free wifi college have a nursing program have uber have free wifi
Does… Newcastle have a beach get 7flix have a beach have a beach have a beach university have a reading read

 

Top queries – Non-English speaking countries

We’ve left blanks where there was no autocomplete suggestion.

 

Spanish Google French Google German Google Polish Google Dutch Google Belgian Google
Does… Great Britain mean the same as England have an immigration surplus belong to the Schengen region
Does… United Kingdom belong to the Schengen region use the euro have multiple countries
Does… England is England easy to travel to is England part of Europe have summer time get flooded have summer and winter have a constitution
Does… Wales is wales a country is wales a country have its own language belong to the UK have its own government have its own government
Does… Northern Ireland is NI a country does northern Ireland have snakes have the euro have safety concerns have a lot of people have postcodes
Does… Scotland is Scotland independent does Scotland have mosquitos drive on the left have its on country have a king have a parliament
Does… London is London dangerous for tourists does London have a Sephora have safety concerns have a port have a port
Does… Manchester is manchester a safe city does manchester have things to do united have a chance in the champions league City plan on bidding on Messi united have debt
Does… Liverpool is Liverpool a safe city does Liverpool have things to do have safety concerns how much did Lverpool pay for Suarez have multiple airports
Does… Glasgow is Glasgow safe have safety concerns have multiple airports have multiple airports
Does… Edinburgh does Edinburgh have museums have a Primark have a lot of people have a lot of people
Does… Cardiff have a lot of people have safety concerns have a lot of people have a lot of people
Does… Yorkshire what is Yorkshire how do you make Yorkshire pudding
Does… The Cotswolds what is the Cotswolds
Does… Bath is bath expensive have a lot of people have a lot of people
Does… the Lake District have many lakes
Does… Birmingham is Birmingham safe have an airport have safety concerns have a lot of people have a lot of people
Does… Oxford is oxford university public or private does oxford have things to do have past papers is oxford difficult to get into have an airport have more than one university
Does… Cambridge is Cambridge a city does Cambridge have multiple universities have past papers is Cambridge difficult to get into have a lot of people have a lot of people
Does… York have an airport have good weather
Does… Newcastle United travel to Poland have a lot of people have a lot of people

 

 

A note on methodology

We had researchers in each of the ‘searching’ countries, using their local version of Google. For non-English speaking countries, we used the local language to perform the search. In some cases, we had to modify the format of the question to replicate a realistic search. For example, the English translation of the German searches was ‘Has England…’ rather than ‘does England’.

We selected the counties from which the most visitors to the UK come, plus the largest English-speaking countries outside of Great Britain.

We conducted our analysis between October 19th and November 7th.

Each researcher used the same browser (Google Chrome) on a laptop or desktop computer.

Google autocomplete offers a suggestion based on the most popular search terms made in the user’s locality. These suggestions do change and can be influenced by device, but the suggestions Google makes are a very strong indicator of what other users have searched for.