Can someone clear this up for me? So for a say three speed hub, is the 1:1 gear the highest gear? or the middle gear?

Ideally I'd like it to be the former, as I'd prefer my top gear (the one i'd stay mostly i'd think) to be the most efficient and without the friction loss malarky that I keep reading about.

If not, does anyone know anything like this that exists? Or am I making the friction loss stuff out to be a bigger deal than it actually is?