In other parts of Asia, a 10% tipping is enough. Many places automatically add 10% to the bill. You are not expected to pay any extra other than simply round it up.
Same as in UK.
Australia and New Zealand do not have tipping.
European countries the tipping is just a round up of the total payment. For example a meal at Spain costs 32ish euro, I tell the waiter to round it up to 35 euro. He would be very thankful. Same for France. Only the Italians are more greedy especially in Rome. In other parts of Italy, just the same as in most of Europe, round up the final amount to a round figure.
The reason for the big difference between US and other (most parts of the world) is historically the Waiting staff in US is paid Very Low - they are exempt from being paid the minimum wages, and the tips made up for that. Essentially the eatery owners transfer part of the wage expenses to the customers thru the tipping system. The tip receiving workers are required to report the income from tips to IRS on their tax returns. Of course the accurate fugures are very differcult to ascertain.
Tipping is among the main complains from visitors to US, the other complain is the added taxes. In virtually all other countries in the world, the taxes are factored in the prices - What You See IS What You Pay. On the receipt, there would be the actual price, + whatever taxes / VAT, to reach the final total you actually see the price and pay.
