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50 Fun, Sad And Weird Facts People Decided To Share About Their Countries
Travel guides can tell you a lot about a country.
But locals often have stories and facts you won’t find anywhere else.
Across the internet, folks have shared fascinating details about where they live, offering a glimpse into daily life and history around the world.
Want to know which nation sent a bear to fight in WW2? Who eats macaroni with sugar and feta for breakfast? Or where, believe it or not, people once ate their prime minister?
You’ll find these stories—and more—below.
More info: Reddit | ThreadsThis post may include affiliate links.
#1
Australia has only ever lost 1 war...against the emu's in 1850. They are now our overlords. They are forcing me to write this. Pray for us
RELATED:
#2
New Zealand's Air Force logo is the kiwi, a flightless bird.
#3
Belgium supplied the uranium for the Manhattan Project. It went something like this:
Belgium government-in-exile: "So we hear you guys need this 'uranium' stuff."
US government: "What? No, we don't. And if we did that would be top secret. Seriously, who tf talked?"
Belgium: "Doesn't matter, Congo is one of two uranium deposits in allied hands. We have 1200 tons of the weird glory rock, do you want it?"
US: "Yes, if you can get it to the African coast, we can get it across the Atlantic."
Belgium: "No need, it's already in the US."
US: "It... what?"
Belgium: "It's rare stuff. So when we moved all of our gold, silver, and other valuables here at the start of the war, we included the uranium. It's in a warehouse on Staten Island. Has been for the past four years."
US: "Fuuuuu... Yes, we'll take the lot!".
#4
In New Zealand, we had a leader recently (Jacinda Ardern) who almost everyone else outside NZ loves. Yet there is a proportion of the population who hates Jacinda Ardern with a passion even now, years after she saved a lot of people’s lives and supported businesses during the pandemic. During her leadership she dealt with a mass shooting, a volcanic eruption with loss of life, and a pandemic and did it all exceptionally well.
Yet there is this unfathomable hatred towards her. It’s bizarre.
Joanne Webster 5 months ago
Jacinda did an enormous amount of good for New Zealand, but she was the wrong gender!
#5
The Choctaw nation sent $170 to Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s. This was a huge sum for the Choctaw to collect and send at the time partially because they were having their own crop related issues.
#7
There are 195 countries on Earth. There are only four countries that DONT have paid maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Tonga, and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. That’s right folks. In America we work until the day we give birth, and we’re right back to work after giving birth. Isn’t that awful!? No other developed nation treats their mothers like this. Germany, Mexico, Japan, Canada, literally every country you can think of, they give their mothers PAID, job protected maternity leave!
Upstaged75 5 months ago
This just means that employers don't HAVE to provide it. Many of them do it anyway. The good ones at least. It's usually part of your employee benefits and some offer up to 6 months. But sadly this is mostly for salaried jobs. If you work at an hourly-rate job you're most likely SOL. (sh!it out of luck)
#8
We have a unique word "Kalsarikänni": It describes the moment of drinking at home in your underwear. Word was also used by Homer Simpson in one Simpsons episode.
#9
60% of our country would be (re)claimed by the sea if we'd done nothing for the past 500 years about water management. More than half of it exists because human beings are f*****g smart.
Edit: Yes, The Netherlands.
#10
Spain is, in fact, currently a very secular country where the Catholic Church has lost almost all its influence. People enjoy the folklore of religion but do not practice religion actively. Few people under the age of 60 attend mass regularly.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
That's interesting because Spain is responsible for spreading so much Catholicism around the world that is still widely practiced.
#11
Indian women collectively hold an estimated 24,000 tons of gold, which is more than the combined gold reserves of the top five gold-holding countries.
#12
The last residential school (abducting Indigenous children from their families and putting them in Christian schools where they were a****d, poorly fed, and lost their culture) closed in 1996 in Canada!! This is not ancient history.
A lot of our nutrition knowledge is based on unethical experiments conducted on these children and other Indigenous communities without consent and without any of the ethical procedures that are now in place to protect research subjects.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
Indigenous people all over the world got effed over by white people. Why is our first instinct to erase other cultures? 😢
#13
Australia lost a prime minister. Like literally lost him. Harold Holt went out for a swim at Portsea Beach one day and was never seen again. No body, nothing. Of course there were rumours about a Chinese submarine waiting offshore to whisk him away, but nothing was ever proven. Then Melbourne Council named a swimming pool after him. True story.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
Naming a swimming pool after someone who drowned just seems mean. Was he disliked?
#14
Contraception was only legalised in Ireland in 1980. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1993. Divorce was only legalised in 1995.
#15
As Americans, we’re taught about slavery, the trail of tears, etc. But I swear we never, or just *barely* were told about how the country treated the Japanese in the 40s and 50s. Terrible stuff. It’s not common knowledge like slavery and indigenous g******e are.
JayhawkJoey 5 months ago
I never learned about the Trail of Tears (born 1965). Of course now, thanks to President A$$hole, American kids will learn none of it.
#16
Americans are so dumb that they thought 1/3 was less than a 1/4 and it derailed a whole hamburger campaign in the 1980s. .
#17
We ate our prime minister one time. The Netherlands
#18
Scotland is the only country in the world where Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola made Fanta isn’t the number 1 selling soft drink. It‘s Irn Bru!
#19
We hold the world record for most days without a fully elected government. From December 2018 to October 2020, Belgium had no federal government and was governed by an interim government for 652 days, beating the previous world record holder (541 days), which was… Belgium.
#20
Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve.
#21
The soviet union dropped 450 nukes near my town in Kazakhstan. No one was evacuated and people are still born with deformities and cancer is prevalent.
#22
Actually right now,half a million people in Serbian capital are fighting against the f*****t regime which is using tear gas and weapons against their own people in favor of the f*****t s***s,this fight has been going on for 7 months and the government controlled media is trying to silence all of this.
Chris Mpls 5 months ago
Criticizing government censorship is so heavily censored that it obscures the very issues it aims to highlight. Way to go BP.
#23
We have both the largest air force in the world (USAF) and the second largest air force (US Navy). This fact has always blown my mind.
No affordable healthcare, horrible work/life balance, the government doesn’t even pretend to care about its citizens… but, hey! We’ve got a s**t-ton of military aircraft!
Multa Nocte 5 months ago
Don't forget the USA also has an orange rapist who married a porn star and is running the country (to ruin).
#24
We have more saunas per capita than street legal cars. Roughly 2.7M cars (not including bigger vehicles like trucks/semis/buses/trains/military etc) and 3.2M saunas in Finland.
#25
My country has more than half of all the roundabouts in the world, and almost twice as many roundabouts as the second most roundabouty country. And to be honest, I find it a little WTF that other countries don't have more roundabouts. I find them way more comfortable to navigate than cross intersections or red lights.
Edit : That's France.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
The US is sloooowwwly adopting roundabouts at crossroads. They leave many confused, but they work so much better than lights and 4-way stop signs!
#26
For 7 years, the prime minister of Serbia was an openly lesbian woman who has a son with her partner, even though gay marriage and adoption for gay couples are illegal in my country. Today, she is the president of the parliament.
Caffeinated Ape 5 months ago
And the co-leader of the explicitly homophobic, misogynist, racist AfD party in Germany is a lesbian married to a Sri Lankan woman. Make THAT make sense.
#27
In Honduras there's a interesting event that happens every year in a really small town, called "La Lluvia de Peces" (The Rain of Fish), where fish fall from the sky during heavy storms, likely sucked up by waterspouts and dropped on land, leaving locals to collect them for food. There has been some studies and there are several explanations but nothing completely confirmed.
#28
Philippines is the only other country besides the Vatican where divorce is illegal. And that's just one of the many problems we have here.
#29
Poland. We had woman crowned "King" instead of "Queen". And her husband met diplomats from our country in the baths half-naked to show how civilized he is. We enlisted bear in the military and had him reach quite a high rank in the artillery division.
We are a WTF nation in general.
#30
Montenegro declared war on Japan for no good reason. It is half a world away and has the population of a Japanese village.
#31
Poland
A bear called Wojtek fought in our army in WW2 and he carried amunition during the battle of Monte Cassino.
He also liked to drink beer and smoke(and eat at the same time) cigarets, he had the rank of corporal during his time in the army, he was bought by our soldiers in Syria later lived in Italy and at the end in Scotland where he was put in a zoo where he died in 1963, he never actually visted poland and we have statues of him in diffrent polish cities, his statues are also in Italy and Scotland.
#32
Scotland were world champions in 2004 and 2005 for the sport of ......
ELEPHANT POLO.
#33
In Australia you are never more than 50m away from a snake. 1 in 3 houses in Brisbane have a resident snake living in the roof.
#34
Before invading Spain, napoleon sent a formal letter to the crown along the lines of 'don't worry about my armies crossing the border, we are just on our way to Portugal!'. No one suspected anything until he was literally knocking on the gates of our capital.
#35
The two main islands that make up New Zealand didn’t have official names until 2013.
Joanne Webster 5 months ago
In 2013 Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu were made official alternative names for the North Island and South Island respectively, which also became official. Prior to this, the English names of the islands were not official and the Māori names had stopped being used on official maps.
#36
Moldova has the largest wine cellar in the world that goes for like 200 km (120 miles?)
also we have one man in iur country who holds the world record for owning the biggest horse shoe collection (over 12 000), he has his own museum full of all his collections btw, it's pretty fun there ngl.
#37
Every year the whole country (UK) gets together with their families to burn an effigy of a dude who almost blew up our parliament 400 years ago. .
#38
In Bulgaria we eat macaroni with sugar and feta cheese for breakfast.
Upstaged75 5 months ago
After my mom had surgery a friend of hers brought over a dish called "Irish Spaghetti". She showed us the recipe and it included cheddar cheese, noodles, and 2 cups of sugar. 😶😶 I don't remember much else other than that it was disgusting. No idea why or how it was "Irish" either.
#39
Norway, often mentioned as one of the most well-run countries in the world, runs on caffeine.
We drink insane amounts of coffee, and we’re one of the world’s top consumers per capita. But it doesn’t stop there: Pepsi Max is our top-selling soft drink, making us (apparently) the only country where diet soda beats sugary soda. We alone drink over 9% of the world’s Pepsi Max.
Clearly, caffeine is the secret to surviving the cold and dark winters.
#40
In Finland we have a brand of bread called Jussi Pussi.
Do what you will with this information.
#41
Mississippi was the last state in the USA to ratify the 13th Amendment, which is the amendment that abolished slavery.
This occurred in 2013.
While, sure, Mississippi certainly has its history of slavery, this was more of a bookkeeping issue. In the USA, as long as three-fourths of the total number of states ratifies an amendment to the US constitution, it becomes a law for everyone. Even though Mississippi voted against the 13th Amendment, enough states voted for it. Now it is federal law. At that point, a state ratifying the amendment is more of a box checking exercise rather than having any real impact.
In the mid 90s someone realized that, hey, Mississippi still hadn't voted for it. The state legislature came together, voted unanimously to "end slavery", but the paperwork didn't get submitted...and no one noticed until it was finally dealt with properly in 2013.
#42
Ireland used women who had premarital s*x as slave labour for decades.
Uncle Schmickle 5 months ago
Yep, the good old sympathetic and charitable Christian nuns. How many illegitimate babies' bodies were discovered in the cistern system in that convent for unmarried mothers ?
#43
Ireland is the only country that has a lower population today than it did in the 19th century.
#45
Canada is as tall as it is wide (ish).
#46
Argentina, if you had your 7th son or 7th daughter (so you need 6 of the same s*x first, regardless of having some of different s*x in between), then he or she can get a "presidential godparenthood". Giving the person actual benefits in life like free education (university too) with some allowances as well, kinda pointless thinking that there's public education for all, but still, this is an actual written law. This comes from ancient European myth that the kid could be a werewolf or a witch.
#47
In England, it is illegal to "handle a Salmon suspiciously". *The Salmon Act, 1986*.
Also in England, it is prohibited for a Welshman to be in the city of Chester before dawn, and after sunset.
Lol. I love this country.
#48
The United States tried to send all the slaves back to Africa and soon realized it was mathematically impossible, especially given the means of the day. This is how Liberia was founded.
Johnnynatfan 5 months ago
Well now trump is trying to send all brown people with an accent to anywhere but here and even with modern modes of transportation its not going as well as he would like. F**k that guy.
#50
Ukraine is very digitalised country, Ukrainians have government app, where we can show our IDs, driving licence and all the certificates about our education and even get married online.
#51
Ireland had the first copyright case in the sixth century. The ruling was ‘to every cow belongs its calf, to every book its copy’
XenoMurph 5 months ago
ireland has some of the best written history of the middle ages. Interesting fact, English had no space in its writing. So words were all pushed up together makingitverydifficulttoread. Irish monks introduced to space to English writing. Ireland's contribution to English literature is literally... nothing
#52
Spain. We have free trains
#53
Canada: My hometown of Winnipeg is (indirectly) the namesake of Winnie the Pooh and is occasionally colder than the surface of Mars.
Also, the “Red Scare” that was prevalent in the US in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s started in Canada with the Gouzenko Affair, when a GRU agent at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa defected and brought with him evidence of a massive Soviet spy ring in North America.
#54
In France, you can marry your cousin or a dead person
Upstaged75 5 months ago
How the hell do you marry a dead person? Do they need to be there in person?
#56
Ireland once had a law that made it illegal to be drunk... in your own home.
Under the Licensing Act 1872, it was technically illegal to be drunk in any public or private place, including your own house. The law stated that “every person found drunk… in any highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on any licensed premises, shall be liable to a penalty…"
But in court cases, “any place” was occasionally argued to include your own kitchen if it was accessible to others or if others were present. While rarely enforced, it remained on the books for over 100 years.
Bonus WTF: It was once also illegal in Ireland to be drunk while in charge of a cow. 🐄🍺
Yes, you could literally be done for drunk cow-handling.
XenoMurph 5 months ago
There were laws introduced by theProtestant led Parliament intended to give the authorities an excuse to arrest any agitators. So they made common things like education and dancing illegal, so that they could arrest whoever they wanted at any time, and accuse them of one of these common practices. Sometimes there was simply a law that they could simply arrest any catholic, without reason.
#57
India once had a university in 700 BC with over 10K students.
#58
We have a town called ‘Wait a while’ or ‘Waimate’ in Māori
DC 5 months ago
At least, that would safe them from ever having to rename that place.
Load More Replies... tmw 5 months ago (edited)
newfoundland has a town called d***o (dil do) . it is next to 'come by chance'. for reals.
#59
Abortion is absolutely completely illegal in the UK
However, a more modern law states that, if 2 (or more) reputable doctors confirm that your abortion is necessary, then the government is required to defend your criminal conviction on your behalf. A defence against, themselves, which by default just results in a settlement, of nothing.
It is a stupid workaround because actually updating or even codifying the legal system is too much to ask.
#60
Brazil (alongside our pals Argentina and Uruguay) k**led off like 90% of the male population of Paraguay during the war in the 19th century. They were on their way to become a local power, and were basically set back to the stone age.
Funny personal anecdote: my great-grandfather was Paraguayan; we *infer* he immigrated here shortly after the war (who knows why), but can't be sure. Some twenty years ago, my aunt went to the Paraguayan consulate at our state's capital to see if there was anyway we could access his documents without having to travel all the way to Paraguay. The clerk there told her (supposedly in a very rude way) there were no documents left from that time to access; "los brasileros lo han quemado todo", he said ("the Brazilians burnt everything").
Thankfully that was the last war we took part in (other than WWII).
#61
Age of consent in Germany is 14 with no age gap clause. I only found that out recently, definitely a WTF!
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
"The legal age of consent in Germany is 14. However, it is illegal to engage in sexual acts with a minor under the age of 18 by taking advantage of an exploitative situation. This can include exploiting the victim’s lack of capacity for sexual self-determination."
#62
South Africa had its own RuPaul-style drag celebrity named Evita Bezuidenhout who dressed like RuPaul and talked politics like Bill Maher.
Ian Webling 5 months ago
He is still alive. He played both male and female characters and is nothing like Bill Maher. He shows were banned so often that he took to using direct quotes from politicians with only the timing and emphasis changed. He claimed that because of that he did not pay taxes - he paid royalties.
#63
In France, two regions (Alsace , moselle) are not exactly laïc and church and state are not fully separated. I grew up with mandatory Christian studies in public school between ages 5 to 10 . we have more public holidays than the rest of France and our social security is also a bit better.
We have a lot of specificities due to the fact that those region have been German for a long time
honestly, even French people barely know that.
#64
Estonia has the most unicorns per capita.
#65
When someone dies, we don t just mourn, we make coliva also: a sweet wheat cake for the dead. We all eat it ( the ones alive). That s in Romania
SouthernGal 5 months ago
A friend had something she called “Death Salad”. It’s customary in the Southern US to make and take food to the family after someone dies. This was the salad she always made to carry. It was quite tasty!
#66
Argentina's national sport is not soccer, it is "duck" played with the carcass of a duck. Nobody practices it like they did a hundred years ago.
#67
Our country is famous for having some of the most passive aggressive people on the planet. But somehow tricked the rest of the world into thinking we’re the ‘nicest’ people.
And I think it’s interesting you all believe that.
#68
Czech Republic has 11 % of alcoholics 🥲
#69
We (Ireland) accidentally legalized k******e and e*****y for one day ! They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. We also sent a turkey to the Eurovision, but sure look !
kissmychakram 5 months ago
Kerosene and Entropy. It's the name of my Guns and Roses tribute band.
#70
4th largest airforce in 1960. Country of ~8 mil at the time.
>!Sweden!
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
Neutral then and determined to defend itself against any threat.
#71
There are places in romania where its almost fully hungarian speaking. like thise people even refuse to speak romanian despite being in romania and if you speak romanian to them they d pretend they dont speak it (they do).
#72
I just found out Thomas Jefferson was only 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence
#73
We Dutch like to eat raw herring. We take it out of its little tray, dip its decapitated corpse into chopped onions, lift it above our mouths, and bite off a big chunk.
#75
Singapore is likely the only country which has increased its land mass by 25% without war or territorial disputes. We do so via land reclamation from the sea.
#76
Not a big wtf I guess, but we hang birthday calendars in our toilets. I guess so we can't forget and have something to read while we're there. It's in the Netherlands 🇳🇱
WindySwede 5 months ago
It at previously stated here on BP. A visitor should not add their own to these calenders...
#77
US. Two of our states went to war over land one of them didn't even border. Thrice. Same states all 3 times.
#79
Canadian soldiers were so nasty (no one wanted to be taken prisoner by the Canadians) in WW1. The world came up with rules. The Geneva Conventions.
#80
A little known fact about Scotland.
A 2016 study by the Celtic Genome Institute and the University of Inverness identified a rare mitochondrial mutation, MT-HG17(Picta) This mutation was found exclusively in a small group of Highland women descended from ancient Pictish tribes. The mutation appears to halt cellular aging entirely. According to Professional Phil McAvity, these women exhibit no telomere degradation, no signs of age-related decline, and are functionally immune to most diseases.
Locals call them ‘Gobhar Beag Feargach’ and they can theoretically live for centuries.
But they do die, just not naturally. Anecdotal records suggest they only die when enraged or insulted enough to do it out of spite. 129 year old Annie Mallish supposedly dropped dead in Feb 1983 after being arrested for fighting 5 Policemen.
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Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
A lot of these were very interesting! And some were questionable. Wish the BP writers would vet these "facts."
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
USA...we do not have a homogenous culture. We have regional cultures, to the extent that we might as well be different countries. I'm a New Englander, and have very little in common with Southerners, Midwesterners, etc.
The Short Lady 5 months ago
Instead of censoring, BP could warn of possible triggers on the main page.
King Of Birbz 5 months ago
The facts were interesting but geez, chill out with all the censoring, BP.
Mel in Georgia 5 months ago
A lot of these were very interesting! And some were questionable. Wish the BP writers would vet these "facts."
Nikki Sevven 5 months ago
USA...we do not have a homogenous culture. We have regional cultures, to the extent that we might as well be different countries. I'm a New Englander, and have very little in common with Southerners, Midwesterners, etc.
The Short Lady 5 months ago
Instead of censoring, BP could warn of possible triggers on the main page.
King Of Birbz 5 months ago
The facts were interesting but geez, chill out with all the censoring, BP.
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