A VIRAL tweet has sparked lively online debate about how often Spaniards shower compared to their European counterparts. The answer? Less than the Italians but more than the French. 

The discussion began when a Twitter user named Xavi Ruiz shared a graphic based on data from The Global Index and Wikipedia with percentages of inhabitants who shower every day. 

For Spain, the figure is 75 to 84%, while in Italy the figure was 95% and above. France and the UK, meanwhile, came in at 65% or below, while neighbouring Portugal was at 85 to 94%. 

The tweet had racked up more than 12 million views by Monday, with 2,227 retweets, 5,142 quote tweets and more than 14,600 “likes”. 

As reported by Spanish online daily El Español, the tweet prompted a shower (!) of responses, with some users questioning the validity of the data and others arguing that a daily dose of water and soap is unnecessary. 

“Experts say that washing too frequently can strip the body of its self-regulating microbiome, the microorganisms that live on the skin and help control the levels of oil,” wrote one Twitter user, linking to an article arguing that ‘science suggests you should not shower every day anymore’. 

Others pointed to the need in hotter countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy for more regular ablutions. “If it’s hotter, you are going to sweat more,” wrote one user. 

And of course there were plenty of jokes from Spaniards about the high figure for their own country.

“Then you catch the bus and you wonder where that high percentage is exactly,” wrote one user called Bahamut. 

“I understand that the climate [in the north] plays an important role but that’s not an excuse to not take a shower,” wrote Kat. “I don’t know why anyone would want to live there by choice.” 

And one Spanish user pointed to their experience at music festivals in the UK.

“At the showers in Glastonbury it was just foreigners in the queue,” he wrote. “And the only Europeans were Spaniards!”

Read more:

• Spain to introduce ‘right to forget’ for cancer patients to avoid discrimination
• Hospital in Spain’s Valencia becomes first in Europe to implant miniature pacemaker in premature baby
• Chronic pain in Spain affects over nine million people – a quarter of the adult population