Use of など after a counter

Question

I was reading this and came across a use of など where I wasn't confident in my interpretation:

アメリカから来た人が５０人、中国とインドが３０人、韓国とフランスが２０人などでした。

My interpretation of this sentence is "50 people came (to Japan) from America, 30 people came from China and India (each), and 20 people came from Korea and France (each)." Reading the sentence gives me the sense that this list isn't exhaustive, so people from other countries than those listed also came to Japan.

However, I have really only seen など used after nouns in a list, or sometimes just after one noun that is a part of an unwritten list. I can see a list being :

アメリカから来た人と、中国から来た人と、インドから来た人と、韓国から来た人と、フランスから来た人などでした。

and then obviously wanting to get rid of the repetitive から来た人 phrase, and then adding the people counter to specify the number per country.

In this sentence would the "phrase" 中国とインドが３０人 be considered the "noun" in the list or is it more the just phrase アメリカから来た人 that are being listed?

Additionally, does it give any sense that the numbers are approximate values? It seems unlikely that a multiple of 10 people came from each of the countries listed.

Finally, would changing the copula to ありました be an acceptable substitution when using など like this?

Answer 1

If it's actually supposed to continue like "インドネシアが１０人、オーストラリアが…", you can substitute など for that part.

In this sentence would the "phrase" 中国とインドが３０人 be considered the "noun" in the list or is it more the just phrase アメリカから来た人 that are being listed?

The former interpretation seems reasonable to me, in other words, 中国とインド is a metonym for those who came from the indicated places, like ぼくがウナギだ as in an order in a restaurant or こんにゃくは太らない、砂糖が太る as in diet.

Anyway, ３０人 is an adverb as a predicate like 走りが ゆっくりだ as opposed to ゆっくり走る.

would changing the copula to ありました be an acceptable substitution when using など like this?

No, that doesn't work regardless of など because you don't really apply ある to 人. However, いる would be fine, and in that case, ３０人 would be a typical adverb like ゆっくり走る as opposed 走りがゆっくりだ.

Answer 2

There seems to be two things to explain in your question.

First, what you can list with など. Nouns and verbs (predicates). This is actually not relevant to など, but those that can be listed as items in Japanese by their basic form. Other word classes cannot be coordinated likewise unless converted into a noun.

○ 走りには楽に、ゆっくり、速く、とても速くなどのモードがある
× 選手はそれぞれ楽に、ゆっくり、速く、とても速くなど走っている

Those listed in examples above are adverbs, but the first one is valid because they are merely used as names of "setting modes" (of auto-driving car, maybe), thus effectively nouns. When you try to list them as adverbs themselves, it becomes ungrammatical.

For verbs, you can also factor out their conjugation with する.

煮る、焼く、炒める、揚げるなどして加工する
（= 煮て加工する、焼いて加工する、炒めて……）

Second, what is 「アメリカから来た人が５０人」? You are right that all items can be expanded like 「中国とインドから来た人が３０人」, but then what are all these things? A noun cannot be qualified by ～が (plus, counter is adverb, so to speak), so this only can be a predicate (clause) as a whole. Combined with what said above, it is like:

アメリカから来た人が５０人、中国とインドが３０人、韓国とフランスが２０人などでした
（= アメリカから来た人が５０人でした、中国とインド（から来た人）が３０人でした、韓国とフランス（から来た人）が２０人でした、……）

Answer 3

など = such as/etc.

From the original source:

日本政府観光局によりますと先月、日本を訪れた外国人旅行者は、推計で1700人にとどまり、277万人だった去年の同じ月と比べて99.9％減りました。

国や地域別では、アメリカが50人、中国とインドが30人、韓国とフランスが20人にとどまりました。台湾やタイ、ドイツ、カナダやオーストラリアなど幅広い国と地域で10人を下回りました。

According to the Tourism Bureau, the number of foreigners visiting Japan last month was estimated at 1700, a decrease of 99.9% from the same month last year, which was 2.77 million. ... By country and region, the numbers [of visitors] stayed at 50 from the United States, 30 from China and India, and 20 from South Korea and France. There were less than 10 people from a wide range of countries and regions such as Taiwan, Thailand, Germany, Canada and Australia.

So for your original simplified article, I'd translate it as:

アメリカから来た人が５０人、中国とインドが３０人、韓国とフランスが２０人などでした。

Visitors from America was at 50, China and India, 30, South Korea and France, 20, etc.

-- Starfox