Tattoo Friendliest Countries Around the World

What do you think the most tattoo-friendly countries would be? “I would guess US,” says Kendra Klassen of St. Catherines, Ontario, who has several tattoos herself! She’s not the only one who would guess the US – Reddit user Lstn2TownesVanZandt said, “America, because freedom.”

Tattoos have always been popular in certain parts of the world, some of which you may not expect. It’s a lot easier to find out which countries do not welcome tattoos than it is to see which ones are pro-tattoo, which is why we wanted to look into it. These are the most tattoo-friendly nations in the world.

“I like tattoos because it’s art. Some people put it on a canvas, and I like to put it on my body… [I like them to have] meaning to me.”
Kendra Klassen, ECE worker and tattoo fan, St. Catherines, Ontario

What Qualifies A Country As “Tattoo-Friendly”?

We would say that a country is generally considered “tattoo-friendly” if a select few criteria are met. Mainly, we’d want to see that there are people walking around with visible tattoos, and that employers aren’t setting restrictions on tattoos in the workplace. If you can go to work and walk around without fear of negative blowback, you’re probably in a tattoo-friendly nation.

In countries where tattoos are not welcome, there are often legal repercussions for walking around with visible ink. You can actually be arrested if you’re seen sporting ink in the United Arab Emirates because it goes against Islam. This rule even applies to tourists, so don’t expect to vacation in the UAE and get your next tattoo there!

On the other hand, in places like Germany, where tattoos are popular and welcome, very few workplaces have rules banning visible tattoos on employees.

The Most Tattoo Friendly Countries Are…

United Kingdom

This may not come as a surprise to those of you who are familiar with the Brits, but the UK is ranked as #1 for tattooed people. This is one of the most tattoo-friendly countries in the world, with statistics showing that 1 in 3 people have tattoos. Some have multiple tats, some have just one, but the point is that most people in the United Kingdom have tattoos.

Tattoos are trending big time in the UK, and this trend is only going to grow as time goes on. It’s estimated that by the 2025, tattooing in the UK will reach its peak popularity.

With more than 20 million designs being inked onto Brits every year, it seems obvious that this would be the most tattoo-friendly country in the world, but they’re actually tied for first place with one other nation.

New Zealand

New Zealand is home to hundreds of different ethnicities, which includes the native Maori and Polynesian people. These cultures have traditions in which tattoos are not only accepted, but are widely expected. In terms of stats, roughly 1 in 5 people in New Zealand are tattooed – and women take the lead in numbers here! Women who are tattooed in New Zealand make up 22% of the tattooed population, while 17% of men account for the rest.

A survey done by UMR Research found that 36% of adults under the age of 30 were most likely to get tattoos. Maori and Pacific Islander natives make up 47% of the tattooed population in New Zealand. The other 15% are other ethnicities in the country, but it’s clear that New Zealand tops the list as an extremely tattoo-friendly country!

Where Else Is It Acceptable To Have Tattoos?

New Zealand and the UK are certainly not the only countries where people love their tattoos. There are countries all around the world where tattoos are more than welcome!

According to a travel poll, you can see how interested a country is in tattoos based on their Instagram usage! For instance, this poll states that 14% of Italian Instagram users are pro-tattoo, but that number only accounts for people who use the social media platform. Chances are these numbers are much higher than they state here, but Instagram is a great place to check out tattoos, no matter where you are in the world!

This same poll states that the order of tattoo-friendly countries based on Instagram use is as follows:

Italy 14%
Germany 12%
United Kingdom 9%
Russia 8%
Spain 7%
United States 4%
Brazil 4%

As far as actual numbers, though, they can be tough to find, and it depends on who you ask. There are no formal studies on tattoo popularity and acceptability throughout the world, but if you ask people who live in these countries, they can give you a pretty good idea.

You might not think that Russia would be a tattoo-friendly country, but it actually is! Things are a little bit different there, though, because a large number of people who are heavily tattooed are former prison inmates. These men get tattoos done in prison to commemorate the crimes they’re serving time for. These men are not the only people with tattoos in the country, they’re just the heavily visible ones.

In Spain, Barcelona is a hot spot for people with tattoos, both tourists and locals! The legal age to start getting tattoos without parental consent is 16, so teenagers can go to local tattoo parlours and get inked anytime they want. Barcelona alone has more than 15 tattoo parlours, based on Google Maps, and that’s just in one city! That doesn’t even account for the entire country, so Spain can most definitely be considered a tattoo-friendly country.

On the other side of the world, in the US, they’ve tried to study the numbers and find out how many people do have tattoos in the country – Harris Interactive and the American Academy of Dermatology conducted a few studies in the past 15 years, finding that roughly 14-25% of adults in the United States have a minimum of one tattoo. It’s safe to say that the United States is a tattoo-friendly country.

It’s always a good idea to check the country you’re travelling to before you go, just to make sure that you aren’t breaking any laws or odd looks for showing your tats.