For Google search numbers, that would be different considering PDF searches in China wouldn't be done using Google. But perhaps taxes aren't done using PDFs either, that important detail I don't know.
Well, no, because each is more than double the US population, and only half the US population files tax forms (2021 had 165 million individual filers, on 332 million US population.)
I believe the actual situation is 3% file for income tax and the majority of the rest don’t need to, but tax evasion is quite common there.
Tax evasion as I know it, and as has been informed to me by many financial consultants I've talked to, is now increasingly difficult. You really need to have back-channel contacts with the right people and spectacular know-how of the loopholes to pull it off. I'm talking about large-scale evasion here, but much of it stands true for small-scale as well.
Basically anyone who ever opened investment account know about it.
If you open investment account to buy any US stock, index funds or a some other US-based financial instruments you have to fill W-8BEN. Otherwise you might be charged 30% tax on your investment income by IRS.
So even if you open brokerage account in UK, EU, India, Russia or any other country you'll surely know about this form.
> If you open investment account to buy any US stock, index funds or a some other US-based financial instruments you have to fill W-8BEN
You seem to directly contradict yourself. Dealing with any US-based financial instrument obviously has to do with dealing with something US related.
In contrast, if I only invest in any non-US financial instruments, I don't have to deal with W-8BEN.
Edit: Now that I think about it, the W-2 probably is even larger than 1040, because you get one from each employer, plus families can file jointly, and not everyone has to file taxes if they make below a certain amount. So a household with 4 people working 2 jobs each generates one 1040 but 8 W-2s per year.