According to current research, about 15 percent of people are lefi-handed.Studies do vary on this statistic, partly because the number of lef-handed people varies from one culture to another, and partly because of the lack of a true definition of left-handedness. Some scientists consider those who use their left hand to write but use their right for everything else to be left- handed, while others don't. The reasons why some people are left-handed are not entirely clear, but they seem to depend on a mixture of genetic and environmental factors. Left-handedness does seem to run in families, but it also appears in families where no immediate member is left-handed.