50 Geography Facts

• 90% of the world's population lives in the northern hemisphere
• Parts of Canada are to the south of Detroit
• Russia is so big that it is home to 11 different time zones
• Despite being just 2.4 miles apart the diomede islands have a 21-hour time difference between them
• Most studies place the total number of human beings who have ever have lived at around 60 to 120 billion since the world population right now is around 8 billion. The percentage of humans who have ever lived and are alive today is around 10 percent
• Rome is further north than New York City
• Africa could comfortably fit most of the US, India, and China within its borders
• The continent of Asia has more surface area than the entirety of the moon
• There are more people living within this circle than outside of this circle
• The largest city by area in the world Hulunbuir, Mongolia is almost half the size of France
• While pretty much no one who lives in Alaska can see Russia from their house, if there was a bridge between the two landmasses it would take less than an hour to drive from one to the other
• Point nemo is the most remote point on earth 1,000 miles from any land in any direction. The closest people to point nemo are astronauts on the international space station whenever they pass by 258 miles away
• Saudi Arabia does not have lakes, rivers, and areas abundant with natural vegetation because of no rainfall
• China has 102 cities with a population of over 1 million. For reference the US has just 10
• By the year 2100 Lagos Nigeria is predicted to reach a population of around 88 million more than the entirety of Germany today
• If the entirety of Scandinavia was a city it wouldn't even make the top 10 most populated in the world
• At 132,000 India is home to the largest capacity sports stadium in the world, the Motera stadium (Narendra Modi Stadium)
• There are roughly two times more kangaroos in Australia than people at 50 million and 25 million respectively
• Papua New Guinea is the country with the most languages in the world with 852 living languages
• The Netherlands is the tallest country in the world. The average 19 year old man stands at 183 centimeters while women of the same age are typically 172 centimeters
• On the other hand, the smallest country by height in the world is Indonesia at 163.5 centimeters for men and 153 centimeters for women
• By an absolute country mile Russia has by far the most forest area in the world at around 12 million kilometers squared. Brazil is in second place with around half of that
• Suriname however has the most percentage of its land covered in forest at a remarkable 98.3 percent
• The Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of 24 trillion US dollars
• The Welsh flag has been ranked as the coolest looking flag in the world
• For more than a decade Tokyo has maintained the accolade as a city with the most starred restaurants in the world with its 226 Michelin star restaurants split between 11 3 star 47 2 star and 165 one star
• Out of every country on Earth, Sweden has the most islands at around 222, 000 followed by Finland with 188 thousand
• Only four of Africa's 54 countries have a McDonald's. Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, and South Africa. These four countries have about 387 McDonald's restaurants combined which is fewer than 393 in Mexico alone
• At 424 New York city has the most subway stations in the world followed by Shanghai with 369
• Pyongyang North Korea is home to the world's tallest unused building. The Pyongyang hotel this pyramid-shaped building stands at over 1 000 feet tall
• Created in 2011, South Sudan is the world's youngest country it gained independence from England and Egypt in 1956 and then in 2011 became its own nation so it's gained independence twice in its life
• Wellington, the second largest city in New Zealand, is the world's most southern capital
• The world's most northernmost capital city is Reykjavik in Iceland a city of around 350 000 inhabitants
• The English Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world; each day more than 500 vessels cross the 350 mile long English channel, a critical route in the European shipping network
• Overtaking New York City recently Beijing is the city with the most billionaires in the world at around 100
• London, England is the city with the most five-star hotels in the world at around 75 next is Dubai with around 61
• At around 227 megabits per second Singapore has the fastest broadband in the world and South Korea has the fastest mobile internet at around 121 megabits per second
• Norway has the largest plug-in segment market share of electric new car sales in the world at around 74.7 percent in 2020
• Vatican City is both the smallest city and country in the world at 0.49 squared kilometers
• Kiribati has the highest smoking rates in the world at 52.4 percent as with many other countries, smoking is lower among women than it is among men. More than 200 people die in Kiribati every year from tobacco-related causes