Africa is not a country... Now that we've got that out the way, we can move on to what we've gathered here to discuss today: the wonderful and slightly confusing world of facts about countries that seem totally fake - but are 100% true.
Planet Earth is home to nearly 200 nations and each has its own people, quirks, customs, and "Wth?!" moments that make it totally unique. Some have laws so bizarre they sound like they've come straight from a comedy show. Others have populations so small that the citizens could fit into a school hall and there'd still be space.
Someone recently asked, "What’s a fact about your country that sounds fake but is actually true?" and the answers read like a deck of Trivia Pursuit cards that might have been written by a daydreaming 6-year-old. People shared strange truths about their native nations that might challenge everything you thought you knew about geography.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the most interesting but false-sounding facts for you to scroll through ahead of your next holiday abroad. They're proof that the world is truly a melting pot of delightful absurdities. Each country boasting a unique flavor of weirdness, shaped by centuries of tradition, some accidental history, and a few questionable decisions that somehow stuck.
#1 Canada
Canada shares a land border with Denmark - Hans island.
For decades, Canadian & Danish patrols would visit the island alternately.
Each time, they would take down the other’s flag, raise their own, and leave a bottle of booze (Canada left Canadian whisky, Denmark left schnapps or aquavit) and baked goods. It became known as the “Whisky War”.
In June 2022, Canada and Denmark finally signed a deal splitting Hans Island down the middle, making it the world’s newest international land border.
Both sides celebrated with toasts of whisky and schnapps ending the world’s most polite territorial dispute.
In a world filled with misinformation and fake news, you'd be forgiven for wanting to fact check just about everything you read. And some of the facts listed in this compilation might be right at the top of your list of things to research.
Take the one about Finland, for example. Someone claimed that the population could fit into saunas simultaneously... Hmmm. At first, we thought they meant the population was so small that everyone could climb into the same sauna at the same time.
But what the person meant was that the country has so many saunas that there are enough for everyone in the country to be in a sauna at once. Let's break it down further. Finland has a population of about 5.5 million people. And according to the This Is Finland site, there are an estimated 3 million saunas in the country.
You see, the sauna is an institution over there. A way of life. Part of the culture.
#2 Japan
We have indigenous people, just like every country does, but ours are quite similar to native americans. the primary group is called the ainu, who mostly resided in hokkaido. fishing and hunting were our (i am ainu) main thing, and we worshipped nature. our women would be tattooed on their arms and faces as protection from evil spirits. our men had long facial hair.
like native americans and other indigenous people, we were colonized and forced to assimilate. japanese settlers banned all of our practices and tried to erase us. the japanese government is so disgusting in its erasure that we only achieved official acknowledgement in 2019
Image credits: villainless
#3 Canada
From a legal standpoint, saying “sorry” does *not* count as admission of guilt, since we Canadians overuse the word so much.
"In days gone by, they were the most practical place to wash during the long winters when there was no hot running water," explains This Is Finland. "You can still find people in Finland who were born in a sauna. Not when it was heated up, of course, but it was a sterile place where hot water was available."
The site adds that big companies and state institutions have their own saunas. Even the president has an official sauna, as does the prime minister. Saunas are everywhere it would seem, so it's not entirely impossible that the whole population could fit into saunas simultaneously... with a push.
#4 Sweden
17% of the surface is covered in blueberries.
Image credits: botle
#5 New Zealand
We have a parrot that eats sheep and car parts.
Image credits: Loretta-West
#6 Finland
Our entire population would fit in saunas simultaneously.
Image credits: ContributionDry2252
What about running out of fuel on the Autobahn in Germany? Is it really illegal? Yes, it is. But before we explain why, it's important to understand exactly what the Autobahn is...
If you've never heard of it, it's a high-speed, limited-access highway. You can drive as fast as you want on this national highway network that stretches more than 7,200 miles (12,000 km).
“The Autobahn in many people’s minds is a bucket list item,” says David Tracy, co-founder and editor-in-chief of automotive news outlet, the Autopian. “Car enthusiasts love the idea of an unrestricted roadway. Being able to actually put your vehicle to the test and really show its full potential is the ultimate.”
#7 Australia
Sometimes you really do see kangaroos on the streets of our capital, Canberra.
Image credits: SpeedySnailSurfer
#8 Australia
A prime minister disappeared while swimming, so we named a pool after him.
Image credits: Zardicus13
#9 Brazil
We have a mosquito factory.
We breed genetically modified mosquitoes that don't carry diseases and release them in the wild where they'll keep multiplying and "infecting" the others with this gene.
So in the future no mosquito here will carry any disease .
Image credits: lucascla18
According to CNBC, top speeds on Germany's autobahn have surged above 250 miles per hour. It would make complete sense then that the government wouldn't want stationery cars chilling around without fuel as others come whizzing by.
Especially if the driver could have avoided the entire situation by simply checking their fuel gauge and filling the tank as required.
If you're planning a trip to Germany, and want to drive while you're there, running out of fuel isn't the only thing that could land you in trouble on the autobahn. It's illegal to pass on the right side of the road, to stop on the shoulder, to forget to use your blinkers/indicators when you merge, and to make a U-turn.
#10 Germany
In Germany, it’s illegal to run out of fuel on the Autobahn.
It sounds bizarre, but because stopping on the Autobahn (unless in an emergency) is a safety hazard, running out of gas is considered preventable negligence. Drivers can get fined, and in some cases even lose their license for it.
Image credits: Ordinary_Fish_3046
#11 Egypt
There were ancient Egyptian archeologists in ancient Egypt.
Image credits: Flaty98
#12 Iran
My country has one of the worlds oldest Churches.
Image credits: Individual-Pin-5064
While Finland has saunas for days, the same can be said about Switzerland and nuclear bunkers. With a population of nearly 9 million, the country has more bunkers per capita than anywhere else in the world – enough to guarantee shelter space for every single resident in the event of a crisis.
According to the Guardian, Switzerland's policy to provide shelter to each resident in the event of a crisis was signed into law more than 60 years ago.
#13 Brazil
There are more Lebanese here than in Lebanon.
Image credits: Simple-Perception208
#14 Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
#15 United Kingdom
Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
"Every new residential building must either include an on-site bunker, or else developers are required to earmark funds for a nearby public one maintained by the state. As a result, Switzerland is now host to 370,000 bunkers designed to protect civilians underground for anywhere from a few hours to two weeks," reports the media outlet.
The Guardian adds that the ventilation systems neutralize the effects of radiation, nuclear fallout, and all the other chemical and biological stuff that comes with a crisis of this nature.
#16 Australia
We have the most camels.
Image credits: t0msie
#17 Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland: We have no flag and we’re officially described as either a province, region or country. (No one seems to know, in all honesty) Everyone born here has the right to choose both British and Irish nationalities. We have three different issuers of banknotes, all of which are private banks.
Image credits: DRSU1993
#18 Belgium
We have the record of country without government , in peace time, for the longest period. 541 days.
Image credits: artparade
#19 New Zealand
A bat won our "Bird of the Year" contest in 2021.
#20 Kazakhstan
We were the USSR for 4 days with everyone else leaving except for us.
Image credits: AgencyBrave3040
#21 Australia
We lost a war against emus.
#22 United States Of America
We have more Spanish speakers than every country except Mexico. We're also home to half of all the Jewish people worldwide.
Image credits: DeMessenZijnGeslepen
#23 Germany
We have an ongoing border conflict with Austria and Switzerland that will never be resolved because nobody cares.
Image credits: MRNBDX
#24 Serbia
1 in 4 roman emperors was born in what is now modern day Serbia.
Image credits: Puzzleheaded_Pitch61
#25 Egypt
For decades now we’ve been trying to solve the water crisis by using nuclear energy in the desert a little bit southwest of alexandria to create a new lake but the problem is there’s too many undetonated mines still left over from WW2
Image credits: HaifaJenner123
#26 New Zealand
If you look at a map of New Zealand's North Island, there's a big hole in the middle called Lake Taupo.
This is in-fact the crater of a giant volcano, and the last time it went off, it put so much ash, etc, into the atmosphere that there's a thin layer of sediment almost everywhere in the world from it, and as a volcano it's not extinct...
Image credits: Kooky_Narwhal8184
#27 Scotland
We have probably the oldest extant stone circle in the world - and it is c600 years older than stonehenge.
#28 Vietnam
Vietnam have fought against 5/5 of the UN permanent security council and won against 3 of them (The US, France and China)
Vietnam have established diplomatic relations with all 193/193 UN member state
Vietnam became a non-permanent member of UN Security Council back in 2020-2021 with a record breaking 192/193 votes in favor, highest in history.
#29 Germany
Germany kicked The Beatles out of the country cause 2 of the members set something on fire and another one was underage and wanted to work at a nightclub where he was too young for ... so yeah.
Image credits: Beautiful_Yellow_682
#30 Scotland
Our national animal is the unicorn.
Our national dish is sheep offal
It was from Scotland on Iona that Irish monks developed the techniques to spread Christianity back across western Europe after Rome fell.
We have the shortest flight in the world at 1.7 miles which takes 1 minute.
Until 2017, we were the only country in the world with a free market where a local soft drink outsold Coca Cola. That drink is the bright orange Irn Bru.
Image credits: Griffincorn
#31 Canada
The beaver is our national animal.
Image credits: Ok-Half7574
#32 French Republic
It is always day-time in at least one part of the French Republic, and the nation spans yesterday, today, and tomorrow simultaneously.
#33 Ireland
- Our national colour is St Patrick's Blue.
#34 New Zealand
There’s 4.5 to 5 sheep for every person who lives here.
#35 Sweden
The swedish national anthem never mentions Sweden by name, but the polish one does... Not very favorably...
#36 United States Of America
There's 1.4 billion lbs of cheese stored in caves in Missouri by the government.
waterotterbottle:
It starts during a national dairy shortage in the 1970s.
In response to this dairy shortage and 30% inflation on dairy products, the government intervened, resulting in prices falling drastically. So, in 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter decided to pour money into the dairy industry to motivate production and alleviate the crisis. The government set a new policy to subsidize dairy, providing two billion dollars to the industry over the next four years. While this plan was welcome to dairy farmers, it also primed them for overproduction.
Farmers who had been struggling were motivated to produce as much dairy as they could, knowing that whatever was not sold on the market could likely be purchased by the government, and it was. By the early 1980s, the government owned over 500 million pounds of cheese. The reason the dairy product was converted to cheese was because it has a longer shelf life than other dairy products as the government searched for solutions to the problem it had created.
This led to Ronald Reagan enacting public distribution of the government cheese in 1981. That year then-Secretary of Agriculture, John R. Block showed up at the White House with a molding five-pound block of cheese and told reporters, “We’ve got 60 million of these that the government owns… It’s moldy, it’s deteriorating… we can’t find a market for it, we can’t sell it, and we’re looking to give some of it away.” Thus, “government cheese” was born, and the federal government distributed these cheese blocks through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). It was given away for free by pickup to people at food banks, community centers, and so on. “Government cheese” became a totem of American culture, signaling both class and nostalgia.
Image credits: AtlasThePittie
#37 Spain
We have lunch and dinner very late, I mean VERY late by almost anyone standarts.
Most people have lunch arround 14.00-15.00, and have dinner about 21.00 - 22.00, but it's not strange that you have dinner even at midnight (So, Jan in The Office in Dinne Party it's more or less rigth).
Image credits: Hacon123
#38 New Zealand
Up until 2016, High Schools in NZ could legally hold up to one pound of Uranium for Educational purposes.
Image credits: Benjamin10jamin
#39 Netherlands
In 1787, mountaineer and aristocrat Horace-Bénédict de Saussure climbed the Mont Blanc. He cut off the top bit, and sold it to a museum in Haarlem. So in a way, the highest part of Europe is in the flattest country.
Image credits: Phaaze13
#40 Switzerland
Our “air force” works from monday till friday until 5 in the evening. They are off on the weekend. Our neighboring countries are then in charge for air protection.
Not even mentioning that the last place in my country granting women voting only allowed it in 1991.
#41 Argentina
We have the world’s widest avenue. Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires.
It’s up to 140 meters wide and has as many as 12 lanes of traffic, plus medians with trees and monuments. It’s so wide that crossing it on foot often takes multiple green lights.
We gave the world the first animated feature film.
In 1917, Quirino Cristiani released El Apóstol, a full-length animated movie, 20 years before Disney’s Snow White. Sadly, the only known copy was lost in a fire.
We were the first country to use fingerprints in a criminal case.
In 1892, police in Buenos Aires solved a murder using fingerprint evidence, the first recorded case in history.
In 2007, a man legally changed his name to… Batman.
His real name was Ricardo López, but he insisted on being called *Batman* in official documents. Argentina actually allowed it.
#42 Ireland
Ireland
One of the largest outdoor events in Europe is the National Ploughing Championships in Ireland. Almost nobody goes to actually watch the ploughing.
#43 Japan
Nintendo was founded while Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last feudal shogun, was still alive.
#44 Australia
Despite the size of the country, and our international reputation a la Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee, 85% of Australians live in urban areas (cities).
#45 Australia
We eat both of the animals on our nations coat of arms.
#46 France
We used the guillotine for the last time in 1977. That’s right, the same year star wars came out
#47 Germany
In Germany you are not allowed to dance in the Easter week and this law is enforced.
#48 France
France has a reputation of being a country of cheese (pays du fromage in french) with 1000 different kinds of cheese. In reality, we have 1200 different kinds of cheese.
We eat around 25kg of cheese per year per inhabitant.
France is also in the top 3 of the countries producing the most cheese :
1) US with 6.4 millions of tonnes
2) Germany with 2.3 millions of tonnes
3) France with 1.7 millions of tonnes
We definitely are a country of cheese !
#49 Japan
Japan: 1: None of us are anime characters
2: we have so little crime that the news talks about something ohtani posted on instagram daily.
#50 Philippines
We have the oldest university in Asia. And also divorce is illegal.
#51 Estonia
22% of Estonia's land is swamp.
We have highest number of supermodels per capita.
Our highest mountain is shorter than the Eiffel tower. (Suur Munamägi 318 m).
#52 Canada
Our strategic Maple syrup reserve has been burgled.
Image credits: stag1013
#53 Sweden
The Swedish army accidentally invaded itself, we have hotel made entirely of ice, rebuilt every year.
Image credits: IslandMaleficent6335
#54 Sweden
The entire town of Kiruna (population 23 000) is being picked up and moved, since it's been literally undermined and is not considered safe. The church, weighing 700 tons, was moved in one piece about a month ago.
#55 United States Of America
The smallest county in California by area (San Francisco, 47 sq miles, 827K people) has a bigger population than all of Alaska, the nation’s largest state by area (665K sq miles, 740K people). On a related note, Riverside County, CA (home of Palm Springs) has a population over three times that of Alaska’s.
#56 United States Of America
In one single borough of New York City (Queens), there are over 138 languages spoken.
The United States has a lot more diversity than most people realize.
#57 Canada
In Canada, a woman was on her way to visit her sister who was in the hospital because she hit a moose with her car and had an accident. The woman driving down ended up also ending up in the hospital because she ended up hitting a moose on the way, and also got hurt.
#58 United States Of America
Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost and easternmost state in the US.
#59 Poland
Poland once had a bear enlisted as a soldier in its army.
During World War II, a brown bear named Wojtek was adopted by Polish soldiers. He was officially given a rank (Private Wojtek), a paybook, and even helped carry artillery shells during the Battle of Monte Cassino. After the war, he lived in a zoo in Scotland.
#60 United Arab Emirates
The UAE has camel beauty contest where winners can fetch millions of dollars. Some camels were disqualified from contests for being injected with botox to look prettier.
#61 United States Of America
69% think angels are real.
#62 United States Of America
The northernmost point in the 48 contiguous states in the US can only be accessed by small plane, water or by driving through Canada (Minnesota's Northwest Angle).
#63 United States Of America
We had a homeless self-proclaimed Emperor who became a tourist attraction amd best friends with Mark Twain. It just sounds so absurd.
#64 Canada
We have the largest coastline, almost 2.5 times the length of the nation with the second largest (Norway).
#65 Canada
If you add up the area of freshwater here, it would still be the 36th or so largest country.
#66 Ireland
We invaded Canada 3 times in the 19th century
#67 United States Of America
The US has the longest and most robust train system in the world. Just none of it used for people lol.
Image credits: Gold_Telephone_7192
#68 Hungary
The largest denomination of banknotes ever in the world was issued in Hungary. It was worth 100,000,000,000,000,000,000. It was labelled as 100,000,000 trillion pengő (b.-pengő; trillion in Hungarian is billió for the long scale numbering).
#69 Saudi Arabia
We lowered the price of oil in the late 80s causing the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent freeing of eastern Europeans.
#70 United States Of America
Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a samurai.
#71 United States Of America
I'll share a fun fact specific to my state—Michigan was the first English-speaking jurisdiction to ban capital punishment, in 1846.
