Top 10 most materialistic countries? (buy, luxury, live)

[Almeida93]

I dont know if this thread already exists, i really would like to know your opinion. I know this question is subjective, therefore i would like your own opinion and your observations.

By materialistic i mean, people are more concern over material things and are superfical and shallow.

Please rank from 1-10 and why you put the countries in that order.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

[SophieLL]

Number 1 is USA

have to think about the rest

[f1000]

1) USA- the most materialistic society/ culture in the world, consumerism is engrained in society and keeping up with the joneses is a part of culture
2) Singapore- people have nothing better to do than shop and compare themselves to their neighbors
3) Hong Kong- materialistic, capitalist mindset
4) Japan- a large segment too interested in frivolous things, brands, etc
5) South Korea
6) Canada (more down to earth than the US but more materialistic than other anglophone countries)
7) UK
8) Australia
9) Argentina
10) Chile

(not familiar with Europe, have been to a few countries there but they dont strike me as being particularly materialistic)

[Chava61]

I too would put the USA as number one. But I am not sure which other countries follow.

[CityLover9]

The USA doesn't even come close to a lot of countries in the Middle East (Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, etc. etc.) and I'd even venture to say some countries in the Far East such as South Korea, etc.

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Koreans Most Materialistic People in the World

[dunno what to put here]

I don't know what the opinion is of the UK to outsiders, but people here are driven by consumerism. Buy buy buy, we must have the latest gadgets, we must buy nice clothes every month, even if we can't afford it. I was reading a blog of an Indian girl visiting my city, Leeds, and she commented on how this place is obsessed with appearance. We have a a massive shopping culture here in particular, the city basically promotes itself as a place to shop and buy expensive clothes at the most luxury brands (Louis Vuitton, Harvey Nichols etc). It's as if we have nothing else to offer. I also see many large Land and Range Rovers, more than I've ever seen in the past, I can't believe everyone can afford these legitimately! Some people must be piling up the debt.

[boxus]

Every country, given the opportunity.

[Montguy]

Originally Posted by Almeida93

I dont know if this thread already exists, i really would like to know your opinion. I know this question is subjective, therefore i would like your own opinion and your observations.

By materialistic i mean, people are more concern over material things and are superfical and shallow.

Almeida, I can assure you that there have been many threads on C-D and elsewhere that discuss how materialistic, shallow and generally sub-human Americans are--surely you know that this type of thread will mostly be nothing more than another opportunity for non-U.S. citizens and their snobbish American counterparts to embellish the materialistic tendencies of Americans first and foremost, whilst dedicating mere lip-service to the fact that materialism, consumerism and shallowness infects the entire modern world (even those Western European paradises we hear so much about).

I'm actually going to refrain from even trying to rank these phenomena by country, as I see it as being highly unfair and massively arrogant to generalize any population as being "superficial and shallow" overall. It's extremely doubtful in my mind that there could be any more than a tiny number of C-D posters who actually have the international experience to offer credible opinions on this subject (and something's telling me that SophieLL, f1000 and Chava61 aren't amongst this small group, but I could, of course, be wrong).

Also, kudos to dunno what to put here for finally offering a fair, honest (if not somewhat humble) societal evaluation on a C-D forum!!! Very nice!

[danielsa1775]

Originally Posted by CityLover9

The USA doesn't even come close to a lot of countries in the Middle East (Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, etc. etc.) and I'd even venture to say some countries in the Far East such as South Korea, etc.

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Koreans Most Materialistic People in the World

Now that is something I agree with! The Koreans are way more materialistic than Australians.

I could not find many differences between the Brits and the Aussies when i lived in england, although the brits don't seem to have as much of a tall poppy syndrome like aussies do.

[HomeIsWhere...]

Originally Posted by Montguy

Almeida, I can assure you that there have been many threads on C-D and elsewhere that discuss how materialistic, shallow and generally sub-human Americans are--surely you know that this type of thread will mostly be nothing more than another opportunity for non-U.S. citizens and their snobbish American counterparts to embellish the materialistic tendencies of Americans first and foremost, whilst dedicating mere lip-service to the fact that materialism, consumerism and shallowness infects the entire modern world (even those Western European paradises we hear so much about).

I'm actually going to refrain from even trying to rank these phenomena by country, as I see it as being highly unfair and massively arrogant to generalize any population as being "superficial and shallow" overall. It's extremely doubtful in my mind that there could be any more than a tiny number of C-D posters who actually have the international experience to offer credible opinions on this subject (and something's telling me that SophieLL, f1000 and Chava61 aren't amongst this small group, but I could, of course, be wrong).

Also, kudos to dunno what to put here for finally offering a fair, honest (if not somewhat humble) societal evaluation on a C-D forum!!! Very nice!

Kudos as well to boxus for saying a flat out truth concerning opportunity.

Originally Posted by boxus

Every country, given the opportunity.

Best regards, sincerely

HomeIsWhere...