Random, Interesting and Useless Travel Facts

Like a good cheese or a fine wine, the list of HoliDaze #TravelFacts just keeps getting better with age. I saved these useless travel facts until now because they are the best. So, without any further ado, it’s time to get your knowledge on!

Missed any of them?

  • The average number of tourists in San Marino at any given moment is around 19 times the resident population.
  • Only two countries in the world are doubly landlocked: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan.
  • Brazil takes up 47.8% of South America.
  • Guinea has the wettest capital on Earth, with over 12 feet (3.7 metres) of rain a year!
  • France is the top destination in the world for tourists, accounting for 11% of all tourist arrivals worldwide.
  • American planes take-off a staggering 8.5 million times per year — almost half the number of airplane take-offs worldwide.
  • Two-thirds of the world’s kidnappings occur in Colombia.
  • Houses in English-speaking countries have the most rooms.
  • Brazil is the heliport capital of the world.
  • Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country.
  • Frilled lizard (one of the one's unique to Australia)
    Frilled lizard — a species unique to Australia 🙂
  • There are more known reptile species in Australia than in all other listed countries combined.
  • Nauru is the world’s smallest independent republic. But not the smallest sovereign territory — that is Vatican City.
  • In Ethiopia, nine out of ten births occur without skilled health staff present.
  • You can be imprisoned for not voting in Chile, Fiji, and Egypt — at least in theory.
  • The top ten tourist destinations — France, Spain, USA, Italy, China, United Kingdom, Austria, Mexico, Germany and Canadaaccount for 49.6% of all tourist arrivals worldwide.
  • About one-quarter of all nations drive on the left-hand-side of the road. Most of them are former British colonies.
  • Train spotters should go to Australia — Australians have more railway per capita than anyone else on the globe.
  • Members of the armed forces and the police cannot vote in the Dominican Republic.
  • In Montserrat nearly 1% of the population are police officers.
  • There are 11 countries where the average woman has more than six children. Ten of them are in Africa.
  • Indonesia contains the most known mammal species — and the most mammal species under threat.
  • Many Americans live alone — so many that the United States leads the world in one person households.
  • Nauru, Tokelau and Western Sahara are the only three countries in the world without official capital cities.
  • The total area of Australia‘s coral reefs is greater than the total area of any of 130 individual countries.
  • The four largest nations are Russia, China, United States, and Canada.
  • Taiwan and Luxembourg are the only countries in the world where the mobile phones outnumber the people!
  • The Pitcairn Islands have the world’s shortest highway system, with only 6.4 kilometers of road. They also have the fourth-fewest main phone lines.
  • Andorra has no unemployment. Well, they did briefly for a short period in 2011 — much to everyone’s shock.
  • Canada is immigrant-friendly. It confers the most new citizenships per capita and per $ GDP, and the second-most new citizenships overall.
  • There are 22 countries where more than half the population is illiterate. Fifteen of them are in Africa.
  • Bolivia has 4,500 Navy personnel — doesn’t that seem like quite a lot for a landlocked country?
  • The Mall in Washington, D.C. is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City — and they don’t hustle you through!
  • Sick of crowds? Move to Greenland! Greenlanders have 38 square kilometers of land per person.
  • The United States has more personal computers than the next 7 countries combined.
  • More than a third of the world’s airports are in the United States of America.
  • The HoliDaze travel facts archive includes a map of USA airport density
    Map of USA airport density
  • Sri Lanka has lowest divorce rate in the world — and the highest rate of female suicide.
  • 22% of New Zealanders have used cannabis (and those are only the ones who admit it!)
  • Nepal‘s flag isn’t square or rectangular. It’s a double triangle. The only one in the world like that.
  • Malaysia has the lowest rate of cinema attendance in the world.
  • Libya has had lots of names. When it gained it’s independence in 1951 it chose the name United Libyan Kingdom. That changed to Kingdom of Libya in 1963. Following a coup d’état in 1969, the name of the state was again changed — this time to the Libyan Arab Republic. Starting in 1977 it became known as Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and then from 1986-2011 it was: Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. But now, as of 2012, is simply Libya. Creative, huh?
  • If you like kids, then Uganda might be the place for you. Half the population is under 15!
  • Senior gentlemen might consider a trip to Russia, where there are two women over 65 for every man.
  • Of all the nations of the world, China has the most people with a staggering 1.4 billion. However there are 71 nations that are more crowded.

Even more interesting but useless travel facts

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About Derek Freal

"Some people eat, others try therapy. I travel."   Cultural enthusiast. Adrenaline junkie. Eater of strange foods. Chasing unique and offbeat adventures around the world since 2008. Derek loves going to new destinations where he does not speak a word of the local language and must communicate with hand gestures, or places where he is forced to squat awkwardly to poo -- supposedly its healthier and more efficient. For more information (about Derek, not squat pooing) including popular posts and videos, check out his bio.

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