Data study — computed from our own files
Tipping map: 80 countries compared
We compared tipping norms across 80 countries: restaurants, cafés, hotels and taxis, plus an expected/not-expected flag, ranked by the restaurant percentage — the situation travelers ask about most.
Data verified: Jun 2026Found an outdated figure? Tell us
Highest-tipping countries
20%
United States for restaurants (then Canada at 18% and South Africa at 15%)
Lowest-tipping countries
0%
15 countries expect no restaurant tip — including Hong Kong, Belgium, China, Denmark
Full comparative table
Ranked by restaurant percentage, descending. 0% means a tip is not the local custom — not that service is poor. 43 countries have a tracked city we can link to a dedicated tipping calculator.
Tipping map FAQs
Which country has the highest tipping percentage in your data?
United States at 20% in restaurants — the highest value in our tipping file covering 80 countries.
In how many countries is tipping not expected at all?
15 countries carry a 0% restaurant norm, and 35 of our 80 countries are flagged "tipping not expected" overall. The full list is in the table.
Where do these percentages come from?
From our own dataset file src/data/travel/tipping.json (restaurants/hotels/taxis/cafes percentage fields per country). Ranking = descending restaurant %, then the average of the four norms. No external sources feed this page.
Flying somewhere? Compare fares
We may earn a commission.
Methodology (every figure reproducible)
- Input: src/data/travel/tipping.json — 80 countries, each with restaurants/hotels/taxis/cafes percentage fields plus an is_tipping_expected flag.
- Ranking: descending by restaurants.percentage, ties broken by the average of the four percentages, then alphabetically. No new numbers or weights were invented.
- Links: each country links to its tracked city in destinations.json (same country name; only 3 spelling differences between our two files are aliased: UAE/USA/Bosnia). A tipping calculator is generated for every tracked city.
- Percentages represent the customary expectation in everyday situations as recorded in our dataset — not a legal requirement anywhere.