That too is a factor, since there are countries who’s population has way better command of English than others. For example, there is an abysmal difference between Mediterranean countries (lower) and north European countries in general (much higher).

Last time I checked in September (see Analysis - Ranked-up Users – Section/Subsection profile (& Local Boards)), I counted only 2 people who has managed to rank-up at least one level (>=Member) under the Merit System in the Dutch board, purely receiving all the required sMerit on the local board. An additional 5 that had done so receiving the required sMerit both on the local Dutch board, and other general English boards. Of course I do not have a reference to those that post and get merited solely on the English sections of the forum.