Globby

14 surprising country facts that are actually true

Clay lightbulb sticker with googly eyes

Geography trivia is full of "facts" that fall apart when you check them. These fourteen hold up. Where a number depends on how you count, we say so.

Size and shape

  1. Australia is wider than the Moon. The Moon is about 3,474 km across. Australia measures roughly 4,000 km from east to west.
  2. Canada has the longest coastline of any country, over 200,000 km once you count its thousands of Arctic islands.
  3. Chile is about 4,300 km long but on average only around 175 km wide.
  4. The Vatican City is the smallest country, at about 0.44 square kilometres. New York's Central Park is nearly eight times larger.
  5. Kiribati is the only country that lies in all four hemispheres. Its islands straddle both the equator and the 180th meridian.

Time and borders

  1. France has more time zones than any other country: 12 when you count its overseas territories (13 with its Antarctic claim). Russia has 11.
  2. China uses a single time zone even though it spans about five geographical ones. In the far west, the sun can rise after 9 a.m. in winter.
  3. China and Russia have the most neighbours: 14 countries each share a land border with them.
  4. Lesotho is entirely surrounded by South Africa and lies wholly above 1,000 metres. Its lowest point is about 1,400 metres above sea level, the highest low point of any country.

Water

  1. Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest lake on Earth, about 1,642 metres, and holds roughly a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh surface water.
  2. Finland has around 188,000 lakes larger than 5 ares (500 square metres), by the count of the Finnish environment agency.
  3. Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest uninterrupted waterfall, at 979 metres. Its water often turns to mist before it reaches the ground.

People and symbols

  1. Mongolia is the most sparsely populated sovereign country, with around two people per square kilometre.
  2. Nepal's flag is the only national flag that is not a rectangle. It is made of two stacked triangular pennants, and its constitution includes precise instructions for drawing it.

How we check facts

Every fact in the Globby feed carries a source, and we prefer primary ones: national statistics offices, UNESCO, government geodata. When sources disagree, we use the conservative figure or leave the fact out. If you think one of our facts is wrong, tell us at devmobileuae@gmail.com.

Read next: Capital cities people get wrong (and the countries with more than one) or see what is inside Globby.