Socialbakers, which specialize in monitoring the Facebook platform, has revealed some interesting Facebook statistics. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that Japan, whose renown as a technology pioneer is unparalleled, is lagging way behind most countries in terms of Facebook penetration.

A paltry 1.46 percent of Japanese were hooked on Facebook at the end of 2010, with the total number of Facebook users put at 1.85 million. In the U.S. which tops the list, there are 146 million Facebook users, and the penetration rate is 47. 25 percent. Japan is ranked 53rd globally.

Surprisingly, in terms of total number of Facebook users, Indonesia is ranked at the second place with 33 million users, relegating the United Kingdom to the third spot with 27 million users. The penetration rate in Indonesia is 13. 96 percent while it’s 44.1 percent in the UK.

The other two countries in the top five are Turkey and the Philippines with 24 million and 20 million, respectively.

And, how many Facebook users are there in the Vatican City, technically the smallest country in the world? Socialbakers say there are 320 users, with a penetration rate of an impressive 38 percent. Nauru keeps Vatican City company at the bottom heap, with 180 members and a penetration rate of 1.2 percent.

However, Nauru has some bigwigs to give it company if you go by penetration rate. India, which has 18 million Facebook users, has a low penetration rate of 1.6 percent, though it's ranked 8th in terms of numbers. Iraq lags behind too, with 1.68 percent penetration while Kyrgyzstan surprises with a low 0.59 percent penetration, one of the lowest among big countries, and on an even keel with the Central African Republic with 0.54 percent. Stand corrected, those who thought Central Asia was any better in terms of tech savvy that Central Africa!

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