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.
Image source: MommersHeart, Toubletap
#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 source: villainless, Jessie Tarbox Beals
#3 Sweden
17% of the surface is covered in blueberries.
Image source: botle, cookelma / Envato
#4 New Zealand
We have a parrot that eats sheep and car parts.
Image source: Loretta-West, Karl Anderson
#5 Canada
From a legal standpoint, saying “sorry” does *not* count as admission of guilt, since we Canadians overuse the word so much.
Image source: madeleinetwocock, freepik
#6 Finland
Our entire population would fit in saunas simultaneously.
Image source: ContributionDry2252, nd3000 / Envato
#7 Australia
Sometimes you really do see kangaroos on the streets of our capital, Canberra.
Image source: SpeedySnailSurfer, prostooleh / Envato
#8 Egypt
There were ancient Egyptian archeologists in ancient Egypt.
Image source: Flaty98, Getty Images
#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 source: lucascla18, ivankmit / Envato
#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 source: Ordinary_Fish_3046, artemp3 / Envato
#11 Australia
A prime minister disappeared while swimming, so we named a pool after him.
Image source: Zardicus13, National Archives of Australia
#12 Iran
My country has one of the worlds oldest Churches.
Image source: Individual-Pin-5064, Bakhtavary800
#13 Brazil
There are more Lebanese here than in Lebanon.
Image source: Simple-Perception208, Image-Source / Envato
#14 Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Image source: redditlurker2025, James Wheeler f
#15 United Kingdom
Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
Image source: Mr_Coastliner, Kaofenlio
#16 Australia
We have the most camels.
Image source: t0msie, Simon Goetz
#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 source: DRSU1993, 117PXL
#18 Belgium
We have the record of country without government , in peace time, for the longest period. 541 days.
Image source: artparade, Jorge Fernández Salas
#19 New Zealand
A bat won our “Bird of the Year” contest in 2021.
Image source: JetpackKiwi
#20 Kazakhstan
We were the USSR for 4 days with everyone else leaving except for us.
Image source: AgencyBrave3040, J B
#21 Australia
We lost a war against emus.
Image source: Elroyy_
#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 source: DeMessenZijnGeslepen, djile / Envato
#23 Germany
We have an ongoing border conflict with Austria and Switzerland that will never be resolved because nobody cares.
Image source: MRNBDX, Georg Eiermann
#24 Serbia
1 in 4 roman emperors was born in what is now modern day Serbia.
Image source: Puzzleheaded_Pitch61, Martti Salmi
#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 source: HaifaJenner123, chuyu2014 / Envato
#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 source: Kooky_Narwhal8184, NASA – NASA World Wind
#27 Scotland
We have probably the oldest extant stone circle in the world – and it is c600 years older than stonehenge.
Image source: Sea_Pomegranate8229
#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.
Image source: sssssammy
#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 source: Beautiful_Yellow_682, PRESSENS BILD (Mikael J. Nordström)
#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 source: Griffincorn, Spenser Sembrat / Unsplash
#31 Canada
The beaver is our national animal.
Image source: Ok-Half7574, Daniel Mirlea
#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.
Image source: Raphton84
#33 Ireland
– Our national colour is St Patrick’s Blue.
Image source: Eskarina_W
#34 New Zealand
There’s 4.5 to 5 sheep for every person who lives here.
Image source: Chemical_Mind4797
#35 Sweden
The swedish national anthem never mentions Sweden by name, but the polish one does… Not very favorably…
Image source: lennblood
#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 source: AtlasThePittie, michelangeloop / Envato
#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 source: Hacon123, Tomohiro Yamashita
#38 New Zealand
Up until 2016, High Schools in NZ could legally hold up to one pound of Uranium for Educational purposes.
Image source: Benjamin10jamin, takstock/phochp3a
#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 source: Phaaze13, Jens Juel – Bibliothèque de Genève
#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.
Image source: Iceman_1990
#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.
Image source: A340_500
#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.
Image source: Indifferent_Jackdaw
#43 Japan
Nintendo was founded while Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last feudal shogun, was still alive.
Image source: No-Efficiency7055
#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).
Image source: Unusual_Disaster_690
#45 Australia
We eat both of the animals on our nations coat of arms.
Image source: HorseUnlucky7922
#46 France
We used the guillotine for the last time in 1977. That’s right, the same year star wars came out
Image source: jvdefgm
#47 Germany
In Germany you are not allowed to dance in the Easter week and this law is enforced.
Image source: Psychological-Hat133
#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 !
Image source: Mysterious-Emu4030
#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.
Image source: Gloomy_Interview5050
#50 Philippines
We have the oldest university in Asia. And also divorce is illegal.
Image source: Important_Year_7355
#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).
Image source: Exciting_Gear_7035
#52 Canada
Our strategic Maple syrup reserve has been burgled.
Image source: stag1013, Sara Gault
#53 Sweden
The Swedish army accidentally invaded itself, we have hotel made entirely of ice, rebuilt every year.
Image source: IslandMaleficent6335, Laplandish
#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.
Image source: Merinther
#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.
Image source: chamberlain323
#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.
Image source: Cornwallis400
#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.
Image source: WorkingFit5413
#58 United States Of America
Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost and easternmost state in the US.
Image source: hamknuckle
#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.
Image source: Rezolutny_Delfinek
#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.
Image source: 3zprK
#61 United States Of America
69% think angels are real.
Image source: don-again
#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).
Image source: Fabulous_Drummer_368
#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.
Image source: Unstabler69
#64 Canada
We have the largest coastline, almost 2.5 times the length of the nation with the second largest (Norway).
Image source: SchmitzBitz
#65 Canada
If you add up the area of freshwater here, it would still be the 36th or so largest country.
Image source: windas_98
#66 Ireland
We invaded Canada 3 times in the 19th century
Image source: DonegalRonan35
#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 source: Gold_Telephone_7192, Fabian Kleiser
#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).
Image source: cerberus_243
#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.
Image source: Capable_Town1
#70 United States Of America
Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a samurai.
Image source: Sensitive-Emphasis78
#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.
Image source: myroommateisgarbage
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