Incredible facts
1. About 10-12 percent of people in the world are left-handed. Women are more likely to be right-handed than men.
2. The official “Left-Handed Day” is celebrated on August 13. Launched in 1992, this annual event honors left-handed people and raises public awareness of the challenges and frustrations of left-handed people living in a world designed primarily for right-handed people.
3. At different times, left-handedness was viewed in different ways: as a bad habit, as a sign of the devil, a sign of neurosis, a rebellious character, but also as a feature that means creativity and musical abilities.
4. Testing by Saint Lawrence University in New York found that there are more left-handed people with an IQ greater than 140 than right-handed people. Famous left-handed thinkers include Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin.
5. Mothers who are over 40 at the time of birth are 128 times more likely to be left-handed than mothers in their 20s.
6. Among the Eskimos, every left-handed person is considered a potential sorcerer. In Morocco, left-handed people are called s'ga, a word meaning devil. Among the Incas, left-handed people are able to heal and have magical powers. Among the North American Zuni peoples, left-handedness is considered a sign of good luck.
7. In many Islamic countries, people are not allowed to eat with their left hand, which is considered “unclean”, as it is used to cleanse the body after defecation. It is also illegal to show your left hand in public in some Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia.
8. Despite the fact that almost 90 percent of people are right-handed, among cats, rats and mice, the dominance of one hand (or more accurately, paws) is equally distributed between right-handed and left-footed.
9. Research has shown that left-handed people are more talented in spatial orientation, mathematics, and architecture. Right-handed people are more gifted in verbal skills.
10. Left-handedness is inherited. Thus, the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Prince William are left-handed in the royal family.
11. Connections between the right and left side of the brain are faster in left-handed people. This means that left-handed people communicate faster, making them more effective when dealing with multiple stimuli.
12. The left side has historically been considered weaker and also “feminine”. However, according to recent statistics, men are more likely to be left-handed than women.
13. Premature babies are more likely to be left-handed. In addition, babies who score low on the Apgar scale at birth are more likely to be left-handed than those who score higher.
14. The researchers found that, on average, left-handed people reach puberty later than right-handed people.
15. Only about 1 percent of people on earth are really equally fluent in both hands.
16. Research has shown that if a left-handed person hurts his dominant hand, he will learn to use the other hand more easily than a right-handed person.
17. According to the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, left-handed brains process emotions differently, and left-handed people are more susceptible to negative emotions like anger.
18. Some scientists have suggested that the left-handed person was originally in the womb with a twin who did not survive, and this phenomenon was called the “missing twin”.
19. When the baby is placed on the belly, right-handed people turn their heads to the right. Left-handed people tend to turn their heads to the left or don't prefer either side.
20.The most famous left-handed people include Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, Fidel Castro, Henry Ford, Charlie Chaplin, Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Lewis Carroll, Julius Caesar, Mozart, Beethoven, Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Prokofiev, Goethe, Kafka, and many more.