25 Interesting Facts About Countries That Sound Fake But Are True - 1

25 Interesting Facts About Countries That Sound Fake But Are True

Are you ready to learn a few weird and wonderful things about the world? Home to nearly 200 nations, planet Earth is teeming with different customs, governments and quirks.

Someone recently asked , “What’s a fact about your country that sounds fake but is actually true?” Locals from different motherlands replied with unique aspects, whether it was absurd laws, weird trivia or confusing traditions. Each location seems rife with strangely questionable fun facts that may have been previously unknown to many before this thread brought them to light.

#1 Sweden

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17% of the surface is covered in blueberries.

#2 Canada

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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.

#3 Germany

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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.

#4 Northern Ireland

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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.

#5 Japan

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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 activities, 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.

#6 Canada

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From a legal standpoint, saying “sorry” does not count as admission of guilt, since we Canadians overuse the word so much.

#7 Brazil

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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.

#8 Egypt

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There were ancient Egyptian archeologists in ancient Egypt.

#9 New Zealand

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We have a parrot that eats sheep and car parts.

#10 New Zealand

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A bat won our “Bird of the Year” contest in 2021.

#11 Canada

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Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

#12 Australia

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Sometimes you really do see kangaroos on the streets of our capital, Canberra.

#13 Canada

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Our strategic Maple syrup reserve has been burgled.

#14 Scotland

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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.

#15 Australia

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We have the most camels.

#16 Vietnam

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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.

#17 Iran

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My country has one of the worlds oldest Churches.

#18 Finland

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Our entire population would fit in saunas simultaneously.

#19 Brazil

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There are more Lebanese here than in Lebanon.

#20 Australia

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A prime minister disappeared while swimming, so we named a pool after him.

#21 Scotland

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We have what is probably the oldest extant stone circle in the world – about 600 years older than Stonehenge.

#22 Belgium

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#23 Germany

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We have an ongoing border conflict with Austria and Switzerland that will never be resolved because nobody cares.

#24 Australia

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We lost a war against emus.

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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.

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Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.

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35 Fun Facts That May Inspire Your Next Deep Dive

You don’t know that you don’t know something until you know it. Knowledge is often cited as power, and the I’m Just Culture Instagram page is teeming with untapped raw potential. Full of fun factoids and random trivia that have appealed to over 249K followers, their posts cater towards modern thinkers. If you’re hungry for tidbits of information to sate your thirst for knowledge, scroll below for a few favourites we found on the account that are bound to stimulate the synapses and leave you craving for more.

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Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.