How are the country/state/province counts calculated?
On the AQ Statistics page, you'll find a list of how many active boxes are in each country, state, and province listed. Only active boxes are counted. Mystery boxes, if a state or province is not provided, will be grouped separately. If you're looking at your personal statistics (available to premium members only), all boxes are counted, regardless of whether they are still active or not.
The countries, states, and provinces are sorted alphabetically, from left to right, top to bottom. The smaller numbers in gray immediately after the country/state/province name is its ranking in that group. So, if California has #4 after it, it means that there are three other states that have more letterboxes than California.
In case of a tie, the rankings are then sorted alphabetically, so two states with the same number of boxes will not have the same ranking. So, for example, if both Antarctica and Argentina each have one letterbox, Antarctica will rank higher since it comes first alphabetically. Not fair, perhaps, but that's the way it works. If Argentina gets another letterbox however, then Argentina will rank higher.
Countries, states, and provinces with no letterboxes at all do not get included in these lists.
Your personal statistics will include country, state, and province counts for both boxes you've "planted" and boxes you've found. Technically, the personal stats only count boxes you own rather than planted. Most of the time, the planter and owner is the same and you'll rarely notice the issue. The reason owners are used rather than planters has to do with some technical stuff that causes the database queries to run much more efficiently when searching for box owners rather than box planters. So most of the time, you won't notice a difference, but it is something to keep in mind.
And for unlisted boxes you've recorded finding, those have no location information and therefore will not be included in the find counts. It will also only show statistics if you've planted or found boxes in more than one category. (For instance, if you've only planted boxes in the United States, the country-based counts will not be included on the stats page—it's the same as your P-count!)
The countries, states, and provinces are sorted alphabetically, from left to right, top to bottom. The smaller numbers in gray immediately after the country/state/province name is its ranking in that group. So, if California has #4 after it, it means that there are three other states that have more letterboxes than California.
In case of a tie, the rankings are then sorted alphabetically, so two states with the same number of boxes will not have the same ranking. So, for example, if both Antarctica and Argentina each have one letterbox, Antarctica will rank higher since it comes first alphabetically. Not fair, perhaps, but that's the way it works. If Argentina gets another letterbox however, then Argentina will rank higher.
Countries, states, and provinces with no letterboxes at all do not get included in these lists.
Your personal statistics will include country, state, and province counts for both boxes you've "planted" and boxes you've found. Technically, the personal stats only count boxes you own rather than planted. Most of the time, the planter and owner is the same and you'll rarely notice the issue. The reason owners are used rather than planters has to do with some technical stuff that causes the database queries to run much more efficiently when searching for box owners rather than box planters. So most of the time, you won't notice a difference, but it is something to keep in mind.
And for unlisted boxes you've recorded finding, those have no location information and therefore will not be included in the find counts. It will also only show statistics if you've planted or found boxes in more than one category. (For instance, if you've only planted boxes in the United States, the country-based counts will not be included on the stats page—it's the same as your P-count!)