Demographics of the PF forum: where do you currently live?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the demographics of the Physics Forums community, specifically focusing on where members currently reside as permanent residents. Participants are engaging in a poll regarding their geographical locations, with various definitions and classifications of regions being debated.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about whether to select the US or Singapore based on their work situation, prompting a discussion on the definition of permanent residency.
  • Another participant mentions living in the northernmost city in Canada and discusses their past residency in St. Croix, questioning how to categorize their current living situation for the poll.
  • There is a debate about the classification of Mexico, with some participants asserting it is part of Central America, while others argue it belongs to North America based on geographical definitions.
  • Participants express differing views on how regions should be defined, with some suggesting that Central America should include countries south of the US, while others reference a more standard definition that excludes Mexico.
  • Humor is used in the discussion, with participants making light of the complexities of geographical definitions and the arbitrary nature of regional classifications.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the classification of Mexico and the definitions of Central America versus North America. Multiple competing views remain regarding geographical categorizations.

Contextual Notes

The discussion reflects varying interpretations of geographical definitions and the implications for the poll, highlighting the complexity of categorizing regions based on residency and citizenship.

Which country do you currently live?

  • North America (US & Canada)

    Votes: 54 52.9%
  • Central America

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Caribbean countries

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • South America

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Northern & Western Europe

    Votes: 24 23.5%
  • Eastern Europe

    Votes: 5 4.9%
  • Southern Europe

    Votes: 4 3.9%
  • Middle East/Western Asia & North Africa

    Votes: 3 2.9%
  • Africa (excluding North African countries)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • East Asia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Southeast Asia

    Votes: 3 2.9%
  • Central Asia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • South Asia

    Votes: 2 2.0%
  • Australia & New Zealand

    Votes: 5 4.9%
  • Oceanic/South Pacific Island countries

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Prefer Not to Say

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    102
  • Poll closed .
StatGuy2000
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Hi everyone! I was curious as to the demographics of PF forums, so I posted this poll on where the respective members of PF forums live.

Please note -- in this poll, I am only asking which country you currently live as a permanent resident, not where you were born or raised, or what citizen you are.

BTW, here is a breakdown of the definitions:

1. North America = US & Canada

2. Central America = Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

3. Caribbean countries = all countries in the Caribbean sea, including British, French, and Dutch colonies there (such as Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Aruba). So anyone who lives in Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc. are counted here.

4. South America = all South American countries + those from colonial possessions in South America such as French Guiana or the Falkland Islands

5. Northern & Western Europe = all European countries that are not counted in the list for Eastern Europe or Southern Europe.

6. Eastern Europe = Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

7. Southern Europe = Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Italy, Malta, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey

8. Middle East/Western Asia & North Africa = all countries geographically in Middle East/Western Asia & North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt). Please note that I lump the independent Caucasus countries of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan as part of this group, but those parts of the Caucasus that are still a part of Russia (e.g. Chechnya) are not included here.

9. Africa (excluding North African countries) = all of Africa except for the countries I identified as North Africa earlier.

10. East Asia = China, Taiwan, Korea (both North & South), Japan, Taiwan

11. Southeast Asia = Myanmar (aka Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines

12. Central Asia = Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan

13. South Asia = India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives

14. Australia & New Zealand = no explanation needed

15. Oceanic/South Pacific Island countries = all countries/dependencies in the South Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Guam, Samoa, Tahiti, Kiribati, Fiji, etc.
 
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So if I am a citizen of Singapore, where my family lives, but I work in the US for 48 weeks of the year, I should put US?
 
atyy said:
So if I am a citizen of Singapore, where my family lives, but I work in the US for 48 weeks of the year, I should put US?

Are you a permanent resident of the US? If so, you should put the US. Otherwise, put Southeast Asia.
 
Northern and western Europe
 
You could do this much more efficiently and extensively by using information already posted. How do I know you live in Canada? :wink:
 
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Hmm. South East Asia here. Kinda new.
 
epenguin said:
You could do this much more efficiently and extensively by using information already posted.

I'm curious about where such information would be posted apart from the profiles of individual members? Searching each individual PF member's profile section would hardly be considered efficient.


How do I know you live in Canada? :wink:

You don't -- you just have to trust me! :-p
 
The city in which I live is the northernmost city in Canada of its size or bigger (70000 +).

StatGuy2000 said:
Are you a permanent resident of the US? If so, you should put the US.

For two years, I lived and worked on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. During this two-year period:

1) I lived continuously (never left, even for a visit home or a vacation) in the Caribbean;

2) I lived in the U.S., as St. Corix is part of the U.S. Virgin islands, which is a U.S. territory;

3) I worked under H1B1 visas, so I was not a U.S citizen.

How should I have completed this poll then.
 
George Jones said:
The city in which I live is the northernmost city in Canada of its size or bigger (70000 +).



For two years, I lived and worked on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. During this two-year period:

1) I lived continuously (never left, even for a visit home or a vacation) in the Caribbean;

2) I lived in the U.S., as St. Corix is part of the U.S. Virgin islands, which is a U.S. territory;

3) I worked under H1B1 visas, so I was not a U.S citizen.

How should I have completed this poll then.

This poll is about where you live currently, not where you lived in the past. Since you live and work in Canada at the present (according to your profile and your past posts), you should answer North America (US & Canada).

If you had still lived in St. Croix at the time I had set up this poll, you should have answered Caribbean countries. (St. Croix, like the rest of the US Virgin Islands, is a US territory, in a similar relationship to the remaining dependencies/colonies of Britain, France or Netherlands in the Caribbean like Bermuda, Guadeloupe or Aruba).

(BTW, in the previous post, I told atyy that if he was a permanent resident of the US, he should put US. I meant to say he should answer North America (US & Canada)).
 
  • #10
StatGuy2000 said:
(BTW, in the previous post, I told atyy that if he was a permanent resident of the US, he should put US. I meant to say he should answer North America (US & Canada)).

Anyway, I put Southeast Asia, since I'm not a permanent resident of the US.
 
  • #11
Mexico is in Central America? !?
 
  • #12
collinsmark said:
Mexico is in Central America? !?
We've had this discussion before, oddly enough.
 
  • #13
collinsmark said:
Mexico is in Central America? !?

And why not? I define Central America as any part of the contiguous landmass of North America that is south of the United States. Isn't that how people usually define it?
 
  • #14
Most people define a continent by its landmass - not by the borders of the countries that lie on that landmass.

Mexico is in North America.

Central America is the isthmus that connects North America and South America, requiring an arbitrary decision as to which continent it belongs to, or a way to avoid making a decision about which continent it belongs to (hence just calling those countries part of Central America instead of making a decision).

If you're from one of the Caribbean Islands, should you choose North America, Central America, or South America?

Not that I'm from Central America, but I do like to ask annoying questions. :devil:

Edit: Actually, I guess the answer to that question is kind of obvious. Who in the world gives Caribbean Islands their own category? (except you)
 
  • #15
StatGuy2000 said:
And why not? I define Central America as any part of the contiguous landmass of North America that is south of the United States. Isn't that how people usually define it?

I think the "standard" definition is Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

I suppose the US-centric definition of Central America would be Kansas :smile:
 
  • #16
AlephZero said:
I suppose the US-centric definition of Central America would be Kansas :smile:
For some reason we call everything west of the east coast and east of the Rockies and north of "The South", the "Mid-West". There's no 'Central America' in the US. We do have "Middle America," but it has no fixed location, it's a state of mind.
 
  • #17
I thought everything west of L.A and east of NYC ,other than Chicago was just called "flyover country", but that may just be so in snob geography.
 
  • #18
Oh, my.
 
  • #19
StatGuy2000 said:
And why not? I define Central America as any part of the contiguous landmass of North America that is south of the United States. Isn't that how people usually define it?
No. North America includes Mexico (and Greenland).
 
  • #20
BobG said:
Most people define a continent by its landmass - not by the borders of the countries that lie on that landmass.

Mexico is in North America.

Central America is the isthmus that connects North America and South America, requiring an arbitrary decision as to which continent it belongs to, or a way to avoid making a decision about which continent it belongs to (hence just calling those countries part of Central America instead of making a decision).

If you're from one of the Caribbean Islands, should you choose North America, Central America, or South America?

Not that I'm from Central America, but I do like to ask annoying questions. :devil:

Edit: Actually, I guess the answer to that question is kind of obvious. Who in the world gives Caribbean Islands their own category? (except you)

I gave the Caribbean Islands their own category at least in part because both geographically and culturally they are distinct from the contiguous land masses of North America, Central America, and South America as I've defined it (geographically, both Central American countries and the Caribbean countries are really part of North America, but that seemed inadequate to me).
 
  • #21
Borg said:
No. North America includes Mexico (and Greenland).

Officially, at least according to Wikipedia, North America would also include the Central American and Caribbean countries as well, but I specifically wanted to break out these countries separately because they are culturally and (to a certain limited extent) geographically distinct from North American countries like Canada & the US.

However, you are correct in that Greenland is a part of North America. That is an oversight of mine (unfortunately, I'm unable to fix the original poll).
 
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  • #22
StatGuy2000 said:
Officially, at least according to Wikipedia, North America would also include the Central American and Caribbean countries as well, but I specifically wanted to break out these countries separately because of they are culturally and (to a certain limited extent) geographically distinct from North American countries like Canada & the US.

However, you are correct in that Greenland is a part of North America. That is an oversight of mine (unfortunately, I'm unable to fix the original poll).
I missed the Central America part being included. Odd since there is a separate Central America link on wiki (that doesn't include Mexico).
 
  • #23
Borg said:
No. North America includes Mexico (and Greenland).

I think Wiki has a glitch about this, needs to be edited. We learned this in secondary school that North America includes only those from the US lower border up.
 
  • #24
Mexico (i/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)),[9][10][11][12] is a federal republic in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
 
  • #25
Incredible! it should belong to Central America :frown:
 
  • #26
I suppose, since it's a geography question, I shouldn't laugh. But the
7. Southern Europe = Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Italy, Malta, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey
made me giggle.

What a diverse set of countries, all grouped together.

Kind of like, me and my next door neighbors. :-p

ps. Where the hell is Andorra? google google google. Oh good grief. Why didn't you include San Marino then?

pps. Pfft!
 
  • #27
i'd heard "Flyover" as East of LA and West of NYC.
We who live here are grateful when snobs "fly over" .
 
  • #28
Medicol said:
Incredible! it should belong to Central America :frown:
We should all belong to Pangaea!
 
  • #29
Medicol said:
Incredible! it should belong to Central America :frown:
Perhaps you're thinking of Northern America which is a subset of the North American continent.
"North American" redirects here. This article is about the continent. For other uses, see North American (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Northern America.
 
  • #30
OK, we seem to be spending a lot of time debating on whether Mexico is a part of Central America or North America. I should note a few things:

(1) First of all, the breakdown of my poll wasn't intended to be "strictly" accurate as far as geography is concerned.

(2) Strictly speaking, North America includes all of the Central American and Caribbean countries and territories. See the Wikipedia entry below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America

So there is no contradiction in stating that Mexico is a part of North America and a part of Central America, since Central America is a subset of North America.
 

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