Stay home may have been the message from many governments across the globe in recent weeks, but analysis of Google Maps data by Nomura suggest residents of some countries are taking it more seriously than others.

Peru, Singapore and New Zealand have among the highest levels of compliance, based on tracking people’s movement between work and home and lengths of stay, Nomura economists Rob Subbaraman and Rebecca Wang wrote.

However, people appeared far more mobile in Taiwan, South Korea, Sweden and Japan.

The variation, covering the period to April 26, may be accounted for the differing strength of countries’ lockdown, or by some nations experiencing greater levels of infection and thus having greater incentive to adhere to restrictions, according to the report. A number have already managed to flatten the epidemic curve or kept transmission contained.

Other countries, however, appear to be less willing to listen to their leaders. Japan is among those with the greatest levels of movement despite being in a declared state of emergency, “suggesting low public adherence to regional governors’ requests to stay at home,” the economists wrote.

To be sure, such comparison isn’t perfect. Google warns that location accuracy and sample sizes vary, and does not recommend using these data to compare changes between countries. However, Nomura points out that the results can provide some insight and are broadly consistent with governments’ own announcements.

 - Bloomberg