Simply put, our world is an amazing place to live. We are so lucky to have 195 countries available for us to reside in which allows us opportunities and experiences like no other. 193 of the countries are members of the U.N. and 2 others, the State of Palestine and the Holy See, are considered non-member observer states. Since the U.N. considers Taiwan represented by the People’s Republic of China it is not included in the total count. Likewise, the Cook Islands and Niue, neither of which are member states or non-member observer states, but have full treaty-making capacity are not included in the number as well. The reason I mention Niue, a free association state with New Zealand, is because it makes our list, not once, but twice, for interesting records held by countries throughout the world.

There are so many quirky, fun and interesting facts about every country that you could never get bored reading about them all. For example, did you know that the Great Wall of China’s mortar was made from sticky rice? How about the fact that Cyprus is the only country in the world without a national anthem. What about France having 12 time zones. Our world is filled with intriguing facts and today we will take a look at countries that hold some interesting records.

19 Most Facebook Users In The World - India

In 2004 while attending Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin co-created Facebook. It started as just an exclusive school-based social network but quickly expanded into the social networking giant that is today. In 2006 Facebook became available to everyone who had a valid email address and was at least 13 years old. Today millions of people around the world use it to connect with friends and family, support groups, upload photos and so much more. As of April 2018 statistics show that India came in first place with the highest number of Facebook users. India had 270 million users, just ahead of the United States with 240 million users. Rounding off the top five, Indonesia with 140 million, Brazil with 130 million and Mexico with 85 million.

18 Most Stunning Road To Drive - Stelvio Pass, Italy

In the Eastern Alps, rising up at its highest point to an elevation of 9,000 ft above sea level sits one of the most stunning roads in the world. Stelvio Pass was built in the 1800’s and its route has pretty much remained unchanged since then. With its more than 60 hairpin turns, the Italian road is known as a driver’s dream and Top Gear even named it the “Greatest Driving Road in the World”. It’s closed during the winter months, but from June to September Stelvio Pass is a driver’s playground. The road is so challenging that even Stirling Moss, a former Formula One race car driver, went off the pass during a vintage car rally in the 1990’s.

17 World's Oldest Living Creature, Jonathan The Tortoise - Island of Saint Helena

Currently, the oldest living creature on earth is Jonathan the giant Seychelles tortoise. He lives on the volcanic tropical Island of Saint Helena which is in the South Atlantic Ocean. In 1882, Jonathan and three other tortoises were brought to the island from Seychelles. All three tortoises were estimated at that time to be about 50 years old. Seychelles gave them as a gift to the governor. In the 1930’s the Governor, Sir Spencer Davis, gave Jonathan his name and thirty-three governors have come and gone since his arrival. He lives on the Plantation House grounds which is the official residence of the Governor. Today Jonathan is estimated to be around 186 years old making him the oldest creature living on earth.

16 Produces Most Of The World’s Oxygen From Trees – Russia

In simple terms, humans breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plants and trees do the opposite through photosynthesis and ‘breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen’. They are beneficial to the environment in many ways. For example by improving air quality, providing us with oxygen and conserving water just to name a few things. Russia has around 640 billion of the world’s three trillion trees. 25% of the Earth’s forests that cover an area larger than the continental United States are in Siberia. This makes Russia the world’s largest CO2 converter. Rounding out the top five in order are Canada, Brazil, the United States and then China. Coming in last due to its poor tree density is Bahrain.

15 One Of The Most Overweight Populations On The Planet – Niue

There is a small island country in the South Pacific Ocean called Niue. It is one of the world’s largest coral islands and it’s also home to the most overweight people on Earth. Now granted, the population in 2016 was only around 1,600 people, but over 70% of them, age 15 and up, were considered overweight or obese as defined by the World Health Organization. The cause for this overweight issue is mostly because the local diet is processed, high-calorie, imported food like spam and corned beef. Imported foods have a higher social status than the local, healthier foods and a large body is associated with power, wealth and beauty.

14 Country With The Most Internet Users - China

Without much fanfare or global press, the World Wide Web went live to the world in August of 1991. Most people at that time did not even know what the internet was. Now internationally known Tim Berners-Lee, it’s creator, has to be shaking his head with the revolution he ushered in that would fundamentally change the world. More than half of the world's population had internet access as of June 2017. As of this month, the world population is 7.6 billion people and that's a whole lot of surfing going on. Ranking number 1 with the highest number of internet users is China with a whopping 746,662,194 people. Rounding off the top five in order are India, the United States, Brazil and Japan.

13 Most (Literally) Behind The Time In The World - Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s calendar is seven years behind the rest of the world’s so to most of us their new millennium began on Sept. 12, 2007. Most countries today use the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian’s predecessor was the Julian calendar and Ethiopia uses a calendar very similar to that one. Some of the differences are that the Ethiopian calendar year is 13 months long. 12 of the months are 30 days each and the last month has only 5 days in it for a normal year, and 6 for a leap year. The main difference is the calculation of the year that Jesus’ birth.

12 Most Baby Name Restrictions In The World - Denmark

It's hard to fathom that a parent would be required to choose their baby’s name from a government-approved list. Well, that is exactly the situation if you are a citizen of Denmark. Kim and Kanye would have to rename Saint and Gwyneth Paltrow would have to change Apple’s name because those names wouldn’t fly in that country. There are 7,000 names approved on the list that was formed to protect kids from being ridiculed in the future. Wow, talk about nipping bullying in the bud! If parents want to diverge from the list they have to seek approval from the Copenhagen University's Names Investigation Department and at the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs. Of the 1,000 names reviewed annually, 20% of them are rejected. Among just some of the banned names are Jakobp, Ashleiy, and Monkey.

11 Most Educated People – Canada

Easily topping the list for the most educated people in the world is Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister in 2016 suggested during a World Economic Forum in Davos, that Canada’s greatest resource was its people's education. Over 56% of the adults in the Great White North have been educated at a post-secondary level - any education that extends beyond high school. Rounding out our list of the top ten most highly educated countries are Japan 50.50%, Israel 49.90%, Korea 46.86%, UK 45.96%, US 45.67%, Australia 43.74%, Finland 43.60%, Norway 43.02% and Luxembourg 42.86%.

10 Youngest Population Of Any Country – Niger

Japan has the world’s oldest population with a mere 13% of its citizens under the age of 15. Finland and Greece also have a ‘graying’ population as well. However, in other parts of the world like Africa, the trend is extremely different. Holding the number one spot for having the highest percentage of its people under the age of 19 is Niger. A whopping 56.9% of Niger’s population is made up of this age-group. This youth population explosion can be partly attributed to factors like the cultural belief in having more kids, lack of education and not having access to birth control. On average, a woman in Niger has eight children.

9 Most Bizarre Currency In The World - Niue

This tiny island nation in the South Pacific hits our list once again. Niue, in an effort to boost its economy and make it more known on the world map, started making some really quirky coins as currency. Featuring “Pokémon” and “Star Wars” characters, not to mention Disney Princesses and characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. Now, these coins are legal tender on the Polynesian island but you really wouldn’t want to use them as such. One of Niue’s Disney character coin face value is $25., but it’s made of 7.1 grams of gold so it worth much more than that. It’s really more of a collector’s item and is traded around the world.

8 Most People Behind Bars – United States

The uncontested leader in the world, when it comes to the highest percentage of its population being incarcerated is the United States. Not only is the United States the worldwide leader for incarcerations, but it is also the country with the largest number of prisoners. As of 2016, there were 655 people incarcerated per every 100,000. That number is staggering, but to put it into perspective: The United States has 25% of the world’s incarcerated population but has only 5% of the total population. That’s 2 million plus people behind bars in the US. Second place goes to China with 1.5 million and Russia is third with 870,000.

7 Most Different Languages Spoken – Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea holds the record for the most linguistically diverse country in the world. Most countries have one nationally recognized language or perhaps a handful of official languages. In Papua New Guinea more than 820 languages are spoken which equates to 12% of the world’s total. One of its official languages, English, is only spoken by 1-2% of the people. Hiri Motu and Tok Pisin are among Papua New Guinea’s other national languages. Rounding off the top five list are Indonesia with 742 languages spoken, about 10.73% of the world’s total, Nigeria with 516 languages (7.47%), India with 427 (6.18%) and the USA with 311 languages (4.5%).

6 Most Smartphone Users In The World - China

Can you even imagine a world today without smartphones? Well, it is projected that by next year, 2019, the number of smartphone users in the world will be around 2.5 billion people. The country today with the highest number of smartphone users is China with a staggering 775,028,000 people having them. Way behind China is India with 386,934,000 people and then the US with 235,156,000. What is surprising about these numbers are that China and India have the highest number of users but have low penetration rates meaning only 56% and 28% respectively of their people even have smartphones.

5 Most Lakes In The World – Canada

If you combine the total area of the ten largest countries, they take up 49% of the earth’s entire landmass (149 million square kilometers). Russia is the world’s largest country and second is Canada. The USA’s northern neighbor holds the record for having the most lakes in the world and even has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Having more than 3 million lakes makes the Canadian territory covered by 9% freshwater and 60% of all lakes are found in Canada. At least 561 of the Canadian lakes are larger than three square kilometers with the Great Lakes being included in that number.

4 Largest Number Of Tanks – Russia

Ok, so it’s kind of an odd title to hold, but significantly outnumbering the rest of the world for having battle tanks is Russia. Now, most of the tanks in the motherland are really just outdated machines, but they are still a tribute to the past. Russia houses more than 15,000 tanks, followed by the People's Republic of China with more than 9,000 then the USA with more than 8,800 and India comes in fourth with 6,400. With Russia being the largest country and having to protect more than 12,000 miles of border, it should come as no surprise that Russia has the most military battle tanks.

3 One Of The Most Diverse Countries In The World – Papua New Guinea

When it comes to diversity, there are many different factors to consider. Such things as ethnicity, race, religion and linguistics all are key components to diversity. A previous record holder on our list is Papua New Guinea for being the most linguistically diverse country in the world. This factor contributes significantly to its holding the record for diversity. With thousands of ethnic groups in the country each with their different customs and their own languages, Papua New Guinea tops our list. Among other top diverse countries in the world are Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Liberia. Not surprising, North Korea is the least ethnically and culturally diverse country in the world.

2 Fastest Disappearing Nation – Latvia

As of last year, no other country in the world had a greater population drop than Latvia. According to statistics provided by the U.N. in 2017, there was an 18.2% fall in the population. Latvia’s population was 2.38 million in 2000 and dropped to 1.95 million in 2017. Fast-shriveling Latvian neighbors Lithuania and Georgia come in second and third with a 17.5% and 17.2% drop respectively. Journalist, Aleksandr Rube wrote, “Borders are open, information about life in other EU states is available and everyone is doing it. So, off our young people go to England or Ireland or Germany”.

1 Largest Country With No Farms – Singapore

First off, Singapore is its own country and surprisingly is able to support its 5,796,995 people’s food needs without having any farms. Singapore’s capability to import all the food needed is simply an amazing logistical feat. There are no farms in Singapore because the island is completely developed with buildings and businesses which in turn make it a very wealthy country. However, Singapore’s dependency to constantly have to ship food in makes it extremely vulnerable to economic sanctions. Singapore has its food imported from all over the world so if sanctions were to be implemented, Singapore would just have to give in.

References: nydailynews.com, thesun.co.uk, timeanddate.com, cnbc.com, worldatlas.com, politico.eu