Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Agriculture
People might eat oats when they're hungry, but people from Hungary don't eat oats.
What is in a name? More than 90% of people in Bhutan, Burundi and Burkina Faso are
involved in agriculture.
Iceland has many, many more tractors per 1000 hectares of cropland than any other
nation - more than twice that of the next highest country, Slovenia.
Costa Rica leads the world in per capita exports of bananas, cassava, melons, and
pineapples to the United States. Unsuprisingly, they’re also first in pesticide use.
Crime
Currency
‘Dollar’ is the most common currency name, followed by ‘franc,’ ‘pound,’ ‘dinar,’
‘peso,’ and ‘rupee.’
Democracy
You can be imprisoned for not voting in Fiji, Chile and Egypt - at least in theory.
In the last Argentinian elections, 21% of the votes were declared invalid.
In Belgium, 55% of government ministers are female. The country’s first female
parliamentarian was appointed in 1921.
Economy
Education
Energy
Environment
Food
The United States has the world's highest number of McDonald’s restaurants per capita.
Americans also die of obesity more often than any other nation, with more deaths than
Mexico, Germany, Spain, Austria and Canada combined.
Norwegians drink 10.7 kilograms of coffee per person each year. They also lead the
globe in anxiety disorders. Maybe it’s time to switch to herbal tea.
Americans consume the sixth-most spirits, the eighth-most beer and the 18th-most wine.
They’re also likely to view heavy drinkers as undesirable neighbors.
Norwegians consume more than 15 times as much coffee per person as the Irish.
The average person in the United Kingdom drinks as much tea as 23 Italians.
Geography
Guinea has the wettest capital on Earth, with 3.7 metres of rain a year.
Clipperton Island wins our prize for the most unusual looking country.
Only two countries in the world are doubly landlocked: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan.
Sick of crowds? Move to Greenland! Greenlanders have 38 square kilometres of land per
person.
If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight
percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
The Mall in Washington, D.C. is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City.
The four largest nations are Russia, China, USA, and Canada.
Brazil takes up 47.8% of South America.
Canada lays claim to more water than any other nation.
Almost the entire Cook Islands are covered by forest.
Contrary to the popular rhyme, the rain falls mainly on Guinea.
Australia has more than 28 times the land area of New Zealand, but its coastline is not
even twice as long.
Government
Got a parking ticket in Finland? Better just pay up - it is the least corrupt nation in the
world.
Members of the armed forces and the police cannot vote in the Dominican Republic.
Nauru, Tokelau and Western Sahara are the only three countries without official capital
cities.
Nauru is the world's smallest independent republic.
Health
Identification
Immigration
The top five countries of origin for refugees are all in Africa.
Canada is immigrant-friendly. It confers the most new citizenships per capita and per $
GDP, and the second-most new citizenships overall.
Apparently, the Federated States of Micronesia is the place to leave - and Afghanistan is
the place to go.
Want to go to the United States? Try going to Albania first. Albania has more U.S visa
lottery winners per capita than anywhere else in the world.
Industry
Internet
Around 80% of all livejournal users are from the United States of America.
Labor
Guatamalan women work 11.5 hours a day, while South African men work only 4.5.
Kenyan women work 35% longer than their menfolk.
Ethiopians are by far the most agricultural people on earth (both men and women)
Looking for Czech and Slovak men? Half are in factories.
Women are flooding into the workforce in many Muslim countries.
American women have the most powerful jobs.
Southern European women hugely outnumber their menfolk amongst the unemployed.
Danish workers strike 150 times more than their German neighbours.
More than a third of the time, Icelanders don't show up for work. Perhaps that's why
they're the world's happiest nation.
In Switzerland, the average person has to work for 102 minutes to buy a kilogram of beef
- one of the longest times in the developed world. On the other hand, they only have work
14 hours to buy a refrigerator for it.
If you are looking for work, just go to the Falkland Islands! They have full employment
and a labor shortage.
61.5% of Swedes work more than 40 hours per week, but just across the border in
Norway only 15.8% of people work this long.
Language
Houses in English-speaking countries have the most rooms.
Lifestyle
62% of Bulgarians describe themselves as either 'not very' or 'not at all' happy.
The fourteen unhappiest countries are all in Eastern Europe.
22% of New Zealanders have used cannabis.
Australians are the most likely to join charities, educational organizations, environmental
groups, professional organizations, sports groups and unions. But only three percent join
political parties.
Australians lead the world in hours worked and membership in many voluntary
organizations. How do they find the energy?
The five countries with the highest coffee consumption are also the five countries whose
citizens trust one another the most. Coincidence? Probably.
In all the countries surveyed, women do more housework than men.
Canadians drink more fruit juice than the citizens of any other nation - more than one litre
each, every week.
Media
Andorra has no unemployment, which is just as well because they have no broadcast TV
channels either. What would everyone watch?
China has the most workers, so it's a good thing they've also got the most TV's.
Indians go out to the movies 3 billion times a year - much more than any other nation.
The USA has more personal computers than the next 7 countries combined.
Americans and Icelanders go to the cinema 5 times a year, on average. The average
Japanese person goes only once.
The United States has the most money, airports, radios and Internet Service Providers.
Malaysia has the lowest rate of cinema attendance in the world.
A three-minute local phone call in Ecuador costs 60 U.S. cents, 60 times as much as in
Ukraine, Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, or Uzbekistan.
Taiwan and Luxembourg are the only countries in the world where the mobile phones
outnumber the people!
Military
Israel enjoys a GDP per capita 21 times that of the Palestinian West Bank and 33 times
that of the Gaza Strip. Its military spending per capita tops the world.
North Korea spends the most of its GDP on its military.
The United States spends more money on its military than the next 12 nations combined.
In the 1990's, nearly half of all arms exported to developing countries came from the
United States of America.
If you're looking to invade someone by sea, try Canada! Canada has only 9000 Navy
personnel guarding the longest national coastline in the world.
Bolivia has 4,500 Navy personnel - which seems like quite a lot for a landlocked country.
Mortality
Moldova has one of the smallest artillery forces in Europe, and the highest rate in the
world of death by powered lawnmower. Coincidence? Surely not.
On average, more than 70 persons die of varicose veins per year per country.
If someone you know died from falling out of a tree, you’re probably Brazilian.
You are more likely to be reported as having been killed by lightning in Cuba than in any
other country.
People
Andorrans live the longest, four years longer than in neighbouring France and Spain.
China's labor force stands at 706 million people, almost three times that of Europe and
twice that of North and South America combined
Luxembourgers are the world's richest people - and also the most generous.
If you like kids, then Uganda might be the place for you. Half the population is under 15!
Senior gentlemen might consider a trip to Russia, where there are two women over 65 for
every man.
Single guys should check out The Virgin Islands, where the women outnumber the men.
South America is unusual in that it is both highly urbanized and poor.
Many Americans live alone - the United States leads the world in one person households.
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country.
Looking for geniuses? Head straight to Iceland. There are more than 3 Nobel Prize
Winners for every million Icelanders.
Sri Lanka has lowest divorce rate in the world - and the highest rate of female suicide.
Australians have a huge 380,000 sq m of land per person - and yet 91% live in urban
areas.
Nearly a quarter of people in Monaco are over 65.
The United States has the world's highest marriage rate - as well as the world's highest
divorce rate.
If you're Dutch or Swedish, you're among the world's most likely to end up living in a
retirement home. If you're Japanese, you'll probably end up living with your children.
Of all the nations of the world, China has the most people. But there are 71 nations that
are more crowded.
Most households in Europe and North America contain fewer than three people.
Like living in cities? Guadeloupe, Nauru, Monaco, Singapore, Gibraltar and Bermuda are
only nations that are 100% urbanised.
There are 11 countries where the average woman has more than six children. Ten of them
are in Africa.
Religion
Mexico has the most Jehovah's Witnesses per capita in the OECD.
At least 9 out 10 Nigerians attend church regularly. Only 4 out of 10 Americans claim to
do so.
Sports
Finns are perhaps the world's greatest athletes, ranking first in medals per capita for
Summer Olympics, and third for Winter Olympics.
Russia won the first World Air Games, held in Turkey in 1997. Events included hang-
gliding, sky-surfing, and ballooning.
Taxation
Don't start a company in Australia. More than 20% of the tax collected in Australia is
corporate income tax.
In Denmark, more than 50% of the tax collected is personal income tax. In the
Netherlands, personal income tax makes up less than 15%.
People in Germany, Belgium, Hungary and Sweden have to pay almost half their salaries
in tax.
Tax makes up half of the of Gross Domestic Product in Denmark and Sweden. In Japan
and the United States, it makes up less than 30%.
Transportation