One point I could make is that, along with its language, England also exported a culture which valued individuality and privacy, and also that these former colonies have prospered economically, with New Zealand having the lowest ranking of the five in GDP per capita, at 35th-highest in the world. Presumably, people in Pakistan, India and Nicaragua would build houses large enough so that up to three people didn’t have to share a room, if they could afford to.

Other points could also be made, such as the relationship that seems to exist between controlled population growth (all five of the countries with the largest houses have an average annual increase of less than one percent) and a higher standard of living. Of course, there is no way to tell which way this relationship works. Do people have fewer children as living standards rise or vice-versa?

Over 70 percent of houses in these countries have five or more rooms, but Australia, at 13 percent, is the only one where more than 10 percent of households have five or more people.

The average household size in Canada, the U.S. and Australia is 2.6 people. That’s equal to or less than the number of people per room in Pakistan, India and Nicaragua.