What makes a country ripe for Bitcoin adoption? Death, research, money.

[Kluge]

The higher the GDP per capita, % of researchers in population, and mortality rate are, the more likely a country's citizens are to be interested in BTC.

Here is the Google Trends map ("Bitcoin" - darker = more searches per person):


[2005] Here is GDP PPP per capita:


[2008] Mortality rate:


[?] #Researchers/million (still some big outliers, like Japan - but that could be from bad GTrends data):



Google Trends is a crap starting point to try gauging interest by country, but I'm not aware of a better data set. Incidentally, I was surprised to learn Serbians and Russians smoke more regularly than drink water. 

Other points of interest: there doesn't appear to be a strong correlation between Internet connectivity and Bitcoin interest. There may be a strong correlation between average age of first sexual intercourse and BTC interest (or it's just Scandinavia biasing). While GDP PPP matches up fairly well, income disparity isn't a factor.


(on a serious note, if someone has actually found indicators, I'm eager to see them!)

[solex]

Inflation rate.

I think that is the critical factor. Argentina has an inflation rate of between 20% and 40% per annum. Economists get prosecuted if they try to report a correct figure. When people lose trust in their national currency and velocity is increasing then Bitcoin usage will climb fast. There has not been a full-blown hyperinflation while a viable cryptocurrency exists. Bitcoin needs more development and no fiat is on its deathbed yet. But the time is approaching when both events come together.

[Abdussamad]

The US was an early adopter so no need to explain them. For the rest of the world it seems two things are important:

1. Tech savvy population

2. Open to ideas from foreign countries.

Japan has 1 but not 2. Maybe the south koreans are similarly insular?

[Swordsoffreedom]

SPSS data but not sure where we find the data for who is interested in bitcoin