If you haven’t completed the left-handed test yet, you can use this link to go to the survey form (it contains 12 Left/Right questions and will only take you a minute to complete).
This page gives our analysis of the surveys completed so far. By 27 May 2015 34,271 people had completed the survey and they declared their handedness as:
| Do you consider yourself to be left or right handed? | ||
| Left | 25,317 | 74% |
| Right | 3,127 | 9% |
| Both | 5,398 | 16% |
| Not answered | 433 | 1% |
| Total | 34,271 | 100% |
Of the people that consider themselves to be left-handed this is the percentage that answered each question “Left”:
| Question | % Left |
| Writing hand (we assume that the other 3% of people who consider themselves left-handed but said they write right-handed were forced to change their writing hand when they were young and have not changed it back) |
97% |
| Cutting with scissors (a lot of people mentioned that they use scissors right-handed because that was all that used to be available and they have never changed) |
70% |
| Holding a bat (one handed) | 78% |
| Eating with a spoon | 94% |
| Holding a toothbrush | 92% |
| Brushing hair | 89% |
| Eye (using a telescope) | 74% |
| Ear (using a telephone) (some people mentioned that they hold the phone to their right ear to leave their left hand free for taking notes. LHC’s Keith just gets in a tangle, holding the phone to his left ear with his right hand so he can still write with his left!) |
79% |
| Foot (kicking a ball) | 64% |
| Folding arms, which is on top | 68% |
| Clapping, which hand is on top | 81% |
| Clasping hands behind back, which hand is doing the holding | 77% |
| Throwing a ball | 77% |
| Turning the pages of a book | 74% |
| Using a bat or club two-handed (hand on bottom) (this question cause a lot of confusion with people thinking about “bottom” differently if they were holding the bat or club down, e.g. cricket or golf, or up for e.g. baseball. What we meant was the hand on the bottom being the one nearest the hitting end of the bat. If this is your left, you will be facing to your right looking over your right shoulder to see the ball coming) |
65% |
The percentage of people who consider themselves left-handed who were graded at each of our levels were:
| Grading | % of total |
| Seriously Left-Handed (>90% score) | 46% |
| Mainly left-handed (60-90% score) | 44% |
| Left but mixed-handed (40-60% score) | 7% |
| Probably a Right-Hander! (0-40%) | 3% |
The overall average score for people who consider themselves left-handed was 83%
And the number of people who scored 100% was 3,710 (15% of all the left-handers)
Of the 5,398 people who consider themselves “Both handed”, 60% use their left hand to write, 30% to cut with scissors and 67% used a phone on their left ear. Their overall weighted score was 55%.
Please add your own comments or interpretations as comments at the bottom of this page.
If you haven’t completed the left-handed test yourself yet, you can use this link to go to the survey form
I eat and write with my left hand. I never learned to throw with my left hand but could bat a ball either way. I shave with my right hand. I don’t have any hair to brush. when I use to bowl, used my right hand.
I agree with the commenter Alison. I have really limited sight in my left eye, so using my right eye in a microscope really means nothing as far as handedness goes.
Fun survey.
Funny, the survey didn’t ask about cheek-kissing. I always end up head-bobbing when I lean in to kiss someone’s cheek, but it wasn’t until I joined the Left Handers’ Club that I even realized it was a left-handed issue and not just me being awkward. 🙂
There are several things that (for Americans, particularly) should be modified in this test. I think that there are many things that I do unconsciously left handed, but have been taught to do with my right hand first, because I was taught in grade school to do them that way or NOT do them at all. I had my left hand strapped to my back and hanging from that strap down to where my hand reached and had that on all day each day during Kindergarten and 1st grade, and was not allowed to use my left hand for anything, until I left school and went home. It seems sort of barbaric now, but back in 1949-50, that was the way things were done. So, I learned many things doing/living life that way, and after a person that young gets indoctrinated, it is really hard to re-learn many of those things or want to change the way said person does them automatically. Practically everyone in my families, my parents, my bothers, my Aunts and Uncle, my grandparents and my own kids are all Left-handed in many of their/our traits, however – we all have had our challenges in living in a right-handed world. Most of those challenges result in our using our Right hands for many things that we would normally use our left hand for, were we not taught to do those things that way by the people around us who we were told “knew better” and we should follow their advice and direction. And taking a test like this is prime, you should include things that every person does without thinking, and being a female, I don’t everyday handle a bat or even a golf club or use a ruler. And being almost 70 years of age, I haven’t even thrown a ball in so long I can’t remember doing it with which hand specifically, I am able to use both hands throwing balls for my pups, but haven’t given it any thought as to which is more dominate, in a long time. And here, we clap hands sideways, or at least that was the way I have always done it, clapping with one hand on top is totally foreign to me, so I don’t even know which would be on the top or bottom. In my test results I came in at 62% left-handed, however I think it would have been a lot higher, if I had gotten more questions that were pertinent to life and reactions normal to me, here and in the way I was forced taught.
However, the test was good and did reinforce my knowledge that I am more left-handed than I thought.
I hold the phone to my left ear using my right hand, so I can dial / write with my left hand. I have never found this difficult – holding the phone to my right ear is hopeless.
I have got used to cutting with my left hand using right handed scissors as this was how I was taught 60+ years ago. I’ve tried LH scissors and just can’t get on with them!
Ambidextrous! But I knew that already…. Wish there was also ambidextrous day lol!
I had always considered myself “severely” left handed so I guess my test results(100%) “seriously” left handed are close enough. Both of my children are left handed as well. The most difficult thing I’ve found to do left handed is teach a right handed person something by showing them, they can’t translate the movement because they’ve never had to. I’m thankful to have that skill.
Hi! I agree with some of the comments above. eg which eye you use when looking through a telescope depends on eyesight, not just handedness.
With regard to using the telephone, when I was a teenager and had a Saturday job the first time I answered the phone I picked it up with my left hand a wondered why no-one responded to my saying `Hello.` After I put the phone down I realised this was because I was speaking into the earpiece! We did not have a phone at home!
Do other lefthanders have trouble playing musical instruments because they are all designed for righthanded people? When I learnt the guitar I had the guitar re-strung so that I could play it lefthanded like Paul McCartney.
As others have commented the ear question is flawed. In my case I hold a hand phone to my left ear in my left hand, but use an earpiece in my right ear because it fits better. (It falls out of my left) I should have clicked “left” as that is dominant, but accidentally clicked right. It wouldn’t let me change my answer. Dumb test. Probably devised by a right hander. If I had been allowed to answer correctly, I would have scored 100%. Also you forgot to ask about kicking a ball (left foot)
The only thing I do right handed is operating a chainsaw. I want to keep all my limbs thank you. And I haven’t found a left handed one yet. I even operate a circular saw left handed. And that takes some doing.
There should be a response for “both” on these questions. I use both hands to do a lot of things. For example, I comb the left side of my hair with my right hand and the right with the left. It’s the same with brushing my teeth. I eat mainly with my left, but when cutting items and eating, I cut with my left and eat with the right. (However, when cutting things like a block of cheese, I use my right most of the time. But, when cooking on the stove, I use my left.) I usually use right-handed scissors because they’re everywhere (though approach the cutting in a lefty way), but I also use lefty scissors. I throw both left and right. I catch better with the left, but can do so with the right. When I played tennis, I always had a forehand, hitting balls that came to my left with the left and vice versa, yet I serve right-handed. I use a computer mouse on the right side so I can control the keyboard with my left. I 10-key right-handed so I can record numbers with the left. When I fold my arms, the right is on top, but when I clasp my hands the left thumb is on top and my left is on top when I clap. And so on…
I don’t know if I’ve just adapted to the right-handed world or if being only one of two lefties (of 10) in my immediate family I inherited both left and right abilities and tendencies. (My lefty brother is more left-handed than I.) I tend to approach things in a lefty way (like in the article about what left-handers do differently), but can do things with my right hand.