# Multicountry Residents: How Many Countries Lived in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663 "2017-01-08T21:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/21 "2017-01-09T14:18:54Z")
I’ve lived in 3 countries during my life. My dad was in the Air Force so we moved every 2 years. Most of the time was within Canada but we did one year in Australia when I was in Grade 7 and then the US when Dad was posted to Colorado Springs immediately after (half of grade 8, grade 9, and grade10 for me). ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/22 "2017-01-09T16:40:49Z")
Two: born in South Africa, moved to the United States in my 20s. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/23 "2017-01-09T18:04:54Z")
Six. Military brat, then active duty myself. US England Italy Japan South Korea Philippines ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/24 "2017-01-09T18:07:54Z")
3 - US, Korea and Japan ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/25 "2017-01-09T19:05:06Z")
Lived in the USA (36 years in Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, andNevada), Australia (4 years; Melbourne and Adelaide), and Chile (1 year; Santiago) with a couple of open-ended stays in Ecuador (Quito and Guayaquil) and Guatemala (Antigua). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/26 "2017-01-09T19:11:58Z")
Germany, Iraq and Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/27 "2017-01-09T21:12:41Z")
United States and United Arab Emirates (1999-2003) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/28 "2017-01-09T23:08:56Z")
I didn’t count a three-month stay in Italy under the terms of the OP, though I usually do consider it a country I’ve lived in. Otherwise Wales (3 years), Canada (6 years and currently), US (30-some years). ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/29 "2017-01-10T01:10:16Z")
Three years in Scotland while I was in the Navy. Other than that, the US. (Seven different states, though.) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/30 "2017-01-10T01:40:00Z")
Five. I’ve lived in the United States, Federated States of Micronesia, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/31 "2017-01-10T01:50:53Z")
I said three, some may argue two since Scotland and Northern Ireland are members of the UK. Anyway, born in Scotland and left at three years old, then lived in Northern Ireland for another three years and the rest in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/32 "2017-01-10T03:22:20Z")
I put down three, although it’s a little ambiguous. Number one is USA, of course. Number two is Budapest for about 5 1/2 years. The third is the UK, split between England and Scotland. I was on a work exchange visa there in '96. Set up shop; worked in Scotland; opened up a local bank account, all that jazz. I’m just counting this as one under the general UK banner. At the end of that same year, I also lived in Croatia a bit over three months working on a post-war volunteer project. I didn’t count that one. ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/33 "2017-01-10T03:49:45Z")
Canada, the US and the UK. We moved a LOT of junk a LOT of times… I’m done with moving… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/34 "2017-01-10T05:09:03Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I wonder about that assumption. After all, right now about 10 - 30% of most western countries’ population weren’t born there, and that number explicitly excludes people who are in their home countries right now but weren’t 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if, on a board like this - where folks skew educated, older, and middle class - you might get as many as 30 or 40 percent who’ve lived O/S at some point in their lives. But that would still leave most never having lived abroad. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/35 "2017-01-10T14:18:01Z")
Three. Born in Norway, lived in Italy for a couple of years, now living in The Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/36 "2017-01-10T15:15:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Number two is Budapest for about 5 1/2 years. Of course, to maintain consistency of naming countries, that should read “Hungary.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/37 "2017-01-10T15:53:51Z")
For the sake of argument, I limited it to countries I’ve lived in for more than a year, which comes out to six: US (citizen) Germany: 4 years Belgium: 2 years Portugal: 2 years Mali: 2 years Uganda: just over a year If I included deployments, which were typically 6-9 months, then Vietnam, Spain, Guatemala and Japan would be in the mix, but I wouldn’t call that actually ‘living’ in a country. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/38 "2017-01-10T21:20:07Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Germany, Iraq and Alabama. I would have loved to go to college in a foreign country, but that was impractical, so I went to Louisiana instead. In the 1950s, that was a foreign country, so can I count that? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/39 "2017-01-10T21:21:22Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Germany, Iraq and Alabama. I would have loved to go to college in a foreign country, but that was impractical, so I went to Louisiana instead. In the 1950s, that was a foreign country, so can I count that? It was actually more foreign than Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/40 "2017-01-13T13:47:29Z")
Two for me - U.S. and Iran. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663.md?page=3)