Countries that drive on the left side of the road

Roughly a third of the world drives on the left. That sounds like a minority, yet it covers around 75 countries and territories and an even larger share of humanity, because several very populous states belong to the group. Anyone who thinks only of Britain underestimates how far left-hand traffic actually reaches. It is hardly a niche habit, since it shapes daily life across several continents.

How many there are

Around 75 countries and territories drive on the left, roughly a third of all the states in the world. By share of population the figure is even a little higher, because countries like India, Indonesia and Japan are in the count.

By length of road network the share is smaller, since many left-driving countries are fairly small in area. The exact number shifts a bit between sources, but the order of magnitude of about a third stays steady.

Who drives on the left

Left-hand traffic is spread across several continents, with a few famous names and many smaller countries in between:

• Britain and Ireland: the home of the rule in Europe, along with Malta and Cyprus.
• Japan: the major example in Asia, next to India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
• Australia and New Zealand: the whole southern Pacific keeps left.
• Southern and eastern Africa: such as South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia.

Why the left in the first place

The roots go back long before the car. A rider who wanted the right hand free tended to keep left, so as to meet an oncoming traveller with the stronger hand. Mounting a horse was also easier from the left. Britain made keeping left a rule early on, among other things through a highways act of 1835, and across the empire of the time the habit spread to Asia, Africa and the Pacific. On the European mainland and in North America, right-hand traffic took hold for other reasons.

With the car, the old rule simply stayed in place. Where carriages and riders had kept left, the motor cars later did the same, and switching afterwards would have been costly and confusing. That is why islands and once closely tied countries still drive on the left today, while elsewhere the other side won out. Once it is settled, the side of the road rarely changes again.

A country that switched overnight

Sweden showed that the side can be changed. On 3 September 1967, known as Dagen H, the whole country moved from left to right in a single night. In the early morning hours traffic paused briefly and then carried on along the other side.

The change had been prepared long in advance, and accident numbers actually fell at first, because everyone drove with extra care. Such switches are the exception, though. Most countries stay on the side they have always been used to. A full change of side is expensive, needs long planning and only pays off in rare cases.

How to remember it

In a quiz a simple pattern helps: many left-driving countries are islands or were historically closely tied to Britain. Japan is the big exception to that rule of thumb, and exceptions like it are what make the topic fun. Fix Australia, Japan and southern Africa in your mind as a firm group and you already have a good share of the left-driving world together.

A second cue is the cars themselves: in left-driving countries the steering wheel sits on the right, so the driver has a better view of the middle of the road. Anyone who has sat in a car there tends to link the country with exactly that detail, and it sticks better than any list.

In CountryRush the focus is on outlines, flags and capitals, yet patterns like these help you bundle countries into groups and remember them better. The Daily Trip brings new countries from every corner of the world each day.