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 used to use my left ear with the phone, but about 13 years ago, I lost hearing in my left ear. I have been told many times I have beautiful hand writing with my left hand!
Fun quiz (I’m 100% Lefty)
Interestingly, I have always batted left handed, and golf right handed. I can also write in cursive backwards with my left hand (you can read in a mirror).
Interesting. I find that I adapted to using right handed things like scissors or playing sports because that was what I had available.
Activities that arent determined by handedness of equipment; playing pool, shooting rifle, writing, eating are all left handed. I am however typing this right handed.
Bizarre to think about this stuff.
Thank you for the web page and the test. And the support for us the left handed people.
made to use right hand in school, it did not work im still a lefty.
people ask how do i write upside down. for me it’s just normal
writing left to right is a pain if your sitting beside someone on your left…..but love being a Lefty…..
When I clap I alternate; I would think the eye and ear thing would also depend on whether there’s vision or hearing loss more in one ear than the other; and a lot of what I do right-handed I do because I was adjusting to a righty world in my formative years! (though not the things on this list). Furthermore, having been very strongly left-handed all my life, now my left thumb has much worse arthritis than my right one, so I need to protect it more and use it less (e.g. which wrist grasps which hand).
I’m 91% left handed, but suspect it’s probably even higher. When I fold my arms, I move my left arm to grab my right arm first, so my right winds up on top.
I’ve never been able to figure out the left-handed scissors; I learned how to cut with the only scissors available at the time and just turn them upside down to cut with.
I agree with the comments about using the phone and writing. I do the same with using a mouse. Some of my right handed friends are bewildered that I can be clicking through pages with the mouse and making notes at the same time.
Like all Lefties, I’ve adapted to being able to use my right hand for certain things, purely out of necessity.
I am left handed. And your test shows me mainly left handed. I just wanted to say that although I consider myself a lefty, I do a lot of stuff right handed. I think because I adapted to the tools. Now I find it awkward to use left handed tools (like scissors and knives). Also, I play all sports I have tried as right handed. I am not very good at them, but batting, throwing, bowling, and golfing just felt natural in the right hand. I tried them all left handed, but it “felt” wrong so I went back to right.
To test eye dominance, try the hole-in-the-card test. Use both hands to hold a card with a small hole in the middle at arms length. View a distant object through the hole with both eyes open. Now, alternately close each eye. The object and the hole will be lined up with the dominant eye. The object will disappear from view when the dominant eye is closed.