Just out of curiosity, I'd like to know where Linux is the most popular.

I'd also like to know what you think about your country, do you feel that there are a lot of Linux users around you?

I'm from Iceland and most people don't know what Linux is (I infer that that's how it is in most countries), but there still seem to be a lot of people who use it. My mom uses Linux, my sister, most of my friends, one uncle, two of my cousins have asked me to install Ubuntu on their computers (and also on my cousin's girlfriend's computer), my girlfriend's sister, and soon my girlfriend I hope I'm also a sysop on the Icelandic Wikipedia and almost everybody there are also translating for Ubuntu

How is it with you? (also, if you're a non-English speaker do you use Linux in your language, in English or maybe in a language that you're trying to learn?)

I'm just guessing it might be Germany or France. In many asian countries like China and Vietnam, the adoption of Linux is very low because nearly everyone runs a pirated copy of Windows, so Linux doesn't compete in cost.

Ah yes, I had heard about that problem in China and Vietnam before (but there is a Chinese Linux distro if I'm not mistaken..). I also think that Linux is fairly popular in Japan. If you go on Wikipedia on some Linux subject you always see a Japanese interwiki link, and if you go on Launchpad for Ubuntu the Japanese always have a high translation rate. So does Spanish and Chinese though..

I've also noticed that a few people from Finland seem to use Linux, but the Nordic countries and Germany do seem to use Linux the most imo. What's it like in the States? A lot of the companies and projects for Linux are situated in the USA but I hardly ever hear any news about Linux from there.

If there is a frapper map of linux lugs, that might be a good indication where Linux is most popular.

I ran a google trend search

http://www.google.com/trends?q=linux%2C+windows%2C+mac

Wow, Linux has become less popular! And so has Microsoft. I would've thought that both Mac and Linux were becoming more popular and that Microsoft would be the only one going down.

Well, check this out. It might show some perspective :P

Here, not scientific:

http://counter.li.org/reports/arearank.php

What do the Google trends measure? Sales, search terms, OS identification by google users, OS of sites searched?

I should think it measures search terms?
Just a guess

I think this is realistic and relevant.Countries selection would be maybe a little different when we speak about Linux,but that's about it.

That's pretty much the problem in India as well. Most people don't see a reason to shift, or are simply not given an option by their local comp dealer. If marketed properly I think Linux can do quite well here due to the large support it has for local languages. That's why I'm going to install Ubuntu on my mum's new comp. I'll just have to get a Linux version of "Spider Solitaire" to convince her..
Even our ex-president supports Linux. And he said this to Bill Gates himself.

For the ones buying laptops, lately, due to Vista, resentment against Windows has been growing, and the ones who can afford it go for a Mac. The ones who can't simply remove the genuine Vista and install a pirated XP on it.

I think the distro you're talking about is Red Flag Linux. The 'Red Flag' is obviously a reference to the Chinese flag, but I can't get the 'Danger!!' interpretation out of my head, especially after reading this. The good is that they're forcing to install Linux, the bad is that they're forcing it.

gs.statcounter.com keeps track of percentages of OS'es used in (I guess) all countries since 2008. The downside is you can't download them in 1 file, but you have to download the statistics of each country in a different csv file.

Maybe someone knows how to automate this process ?

There is no way to tell. Those are results from web access. We use 10 of thousands of computers that have no outside access in linux for automated equipment.

A good enough of guess would be the largest electric use per capita.

@Jefro
I know but is that really the statistic we were after ? I was personally looking for desktop usage of linux when I found this page. Seems far more interesting to me than machines being used by people that don't know they are using a linux based machine...

And as you said, there is absolutely no way to get the statistics on *all* linux based machines being used per country. You would have to label each linux installation with a unique id and let them access internet, which is obviously not something you should want

Here in the US I am constantly surprised that most naive end users have heard of Linux (though they don't use it). Apple has a pretty good reputation among end users and most do not realize it runs a *nix operating system. Sorry this is only my experience -- no stats to back this up.