Countries Trivia | 100 random facts about countries (part 1)

The world is a fascinating, yet unpredictable place and every country has its own unique characteristics.

Let’s dive into the most interesting and weird facts about the world’s countries!

1. North Korea and Cuba are the only places you can’t buy Coca-Cola.
2. However, some folks say you might be able to snag a sip of the stuff if you try hard enough.
3. The entire world’s population could fit inside Los Angeles.
4. More people visit France than any other country.
5. In 2017, the European country welcomed 86.9 million people.
6. Spain was the second-most popular destination with 81.8 million visitors.
7. They were followed by the United States (76.9 million), China (60.7 million), and Italy (58.3 million).
8. The world’s most densely populated island is Santa Cruz del Islote in the Archipelago of San Bernardo off the coast of Colombia.
9. It has the size of two soccer fields.
10. The Canary Islands are named after dogs, not birds as it is commonly believed.
11. Indonesia is home to some of the shortest people in the world.
12. When taking both genders into account, the average adult is around 5 feet, 1.8 inches.
13. People in Bolivia don’t tend to be much taller, with an average adult height of 5 feet, 2.4 inches.
14. The tallest people among us live in the Netherlands, where the average adult height is 6 feet.
15. The Paris Agreement on climate change was signed by the largest number of countries ever in one day.
16. It was signed by 174 countries.
17. The world’s quietest room is located at Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington state.
18. The lab room measures a background noise of -20.35 dBA, which is 20 decibels below the threshold of human hearing and breaks previous records for spaces that were deemed the planet’s quietest places.
19. There are only three countries in the world that don’t use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and the U.S.A.
20. In 2018 though, Liberia commerce and industry minister Wilson Tarpeh said the government plans to adopt the metric system
21. The longest place name on the planet is 85 letters long.
22. Its name isMamungkukumpurangkuntjunya Hill, Australia.
23. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -144 degrees Fahrenheit in Antarctica.
24. Japan is the world’s most earthquake-prone country.
25. In general it’s an inevitable part of life for those who live in countries such as China, Indonesia, Iran, and Turkey.
26. Only two countries use purple in their national flags.
27. More specifically, the flag of Nicaragua features a rainbow in the center that includes a band of purple.
28. The other one is the flag of Dominica that boasts a picture of a sisserou parrot, a bird with purple feathers.
29. Africa and Asia are home to nearly 90 percent of the world’s rural population.
30. The most expensive coin in the world was sold for more than $7 million in the U.S.A.
31. The world’s largest man-made oyster reef was created in Maryland.
32. A  record-breaking 92 countries competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
33. South Sudan is the youngest country in the world.
34. It gained its Independence in 2011.
35. 89.7 percent of young people live in emerging and developing economies like the Middle East and Africa.
36. There are more than 24 time zones around the world.
37. It’s estimated that Sweden has more islands than any other country.
38. It has 221,800 islands.
39. Only about 1,000 of them are inhabited.
40. Greek sovereign land includes 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas.
41. Only 227 islands are inhabited.
42. There are 43 countries that still have a royal family.
43. The most famous is the British one.
44. Others are Japan, Spain, Swaziland, Bhutan, Thailand, Monaco, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Liechtenstein.
45. California is home to the “Artichoke Capital of the World.”
46. All giant pandas in zoos around the world are on loan from China.
47. Canada has nine percent of the world’s forests.
48. More people speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language.
49. Around one in every 200 men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan.
50. Copenhagen is the most bike-friendly city in the world.
51. Facebook has more users than the population of the U.S., China, and Brazil combined.
52. There are only two countries with names that begin with “The.” – The Gambia and The Bahamas.
53. New Zealanders have more pets per household than any other country.
54. More than half of all U.S. homes have either a dog or cat (or both).
55. Tokyo is the world’s largest city with 37 million inhabitants.
56. The next largest city is Delhi, India, (population 29 million) and Shanghai, China (population 26 million).
57. There are 63 million pairs of chopsticks — or 126 million single sticks — manufactured in China every year. 
58. Sugarcane originated in Southeast Asia.
59. Despite that, it was first chemically refined about 2,500 years ago in India. 
60. The modern iteration of American flag containing 50 stars was designed for a class project by an enterprising high school student in 1958.
61. The boy’s unimpressed teacher gave him a B-. Well…
62. Indonesia is the world’s largest island nation.
63. Yet, nobody knows exactly how many islands it has.
64. Indonesia attempted to count them all in 2017, but several differing figures still exist.
65. There’s a small city in Pakistan called Sialkot in this South Asian country that produces 40 percent of the world’s soccer balls.
66. There are more uncontacted people in Brazil’s portion of the Amazon than anywhere else on the planet.
67. The number of isolated tribes is believed to be more than 100.
68. Brazil host the most popular carnival in the word in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
69. The Yoruba people in the southwest part of Nigeria are known for giving birth to more twins than anywhere else in the world.
70. The lowest temperature ever recorded was 2.6 degrees Celsius, and it was recorded in Bangladesh.
71. Still, in the 2018 cold spell was blamed for 12 deaths in Bangladesh.
72. In 2012, Russian scientists were able to regenerate a plant from a seed found in Siberian permafrost that was more than 30,000 years old.
73. Mexico is home to many pyramids built by the Mayans and other ancient civilizations.
74. The Aztecs are believed to have built the Great Pyramid of Cholula some 2,000 years ago in what we know today as Mexico.
75. Its base is four times larger than Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza.
76. Today, however, Cholula is mostly covered by dirt and plants.
77. In 1974, a 3.2 billion-year-old hominin (early human) fossil was found by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson in Ethiopia.
78. It was the most ancient human skeleton ever unearthed, and helped scientists understand early human behavior. 
79. It was named Lucy after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which Johanson was listening to the night of the discovery.
80. About a quarter of all overseas nurses come from the Philippines, making it the world’s top supplier of nurses.
81. Bread was invented in Egypt around 8,000 BC.
82. Belgium colonized the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1908 to 1960.
83. One of the leftovers from this period is an obsession with mayonnaise.
84. Everyone who lives in this European country, even foreigners, can attend college tuition-free. 
85. Iran is more committed to family planning than any other country on the planet.
86. Both men and women are required by law to take a class on modern contraception before their marriage license will be issued.
87. There’s an annual festival in Thailand nation that pays homage to its many monkeys.
88. During the Monkey Buffet Festival, residents of Lopburi provide 4.5 tons of fruits, veggies and candies to the 3,000 monkeys that live around the ancient temple of Phra Prang Sam Yot.
89. British reportedly drink 165 million cups a day.
90. But it was a Portugeuse woman who first brought the drink there.
91. Naples is the birthplace of pizza.
92. Rock music legend Freddie Mercury of the band Queen was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar while it was a British protectorate. The East African island is now part of Tanzania.
93. Kimchi and rice are the two most important foodstuffs of South Korea.
94. Spain is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, whose iconic “Don Quixote” is considered the first modern novel.
95. Uganda has more than 1,000 species, it contains 60 percent of Africa’s birds and 11 percent of the world’s avian population.  
96. The ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia — what is now modern-day Iraq — invented the world’s first writing system, called cuneiform, from 3500-3000 BC.
97. The national sport of Afghanistan is called buzkashi and involves men on horses fighting over half of a calf carcass.
98. The humble but delicious bagel was invented in Poland.
99. Dating back to 859, the University of Al-Karaouine in the ancient city of Fes el-Bali in Morocco is the oldest known university in the world.
100. Sarawak Chamber on the island of Borneo in Malaysia is the largest known cave chamber on Earth.