Finland Facts | Interesting Facts about Finland

Interesting Facts about Finland:

• Finland is ranked as the most competitive economy in the world, ahead of the United States, according to the World Economic Forum. Finland is ranked as the world leader in business-academia cooperation by the World Competitiveness Yearbook.

• Finland has been ranked the least corrupt country for several consecutive years.

• Finland ranks No. 1 in press freedom, according to the Freedom House annual survey.

• According to the OECD, 15-year-old Finns have the best literary skills in the world. Finnish students are the world champions in math, reading, and science.

France Facts | Interesting Facts about France

Interesting Facts about France:

• France is the most visited country in the world.

• French-based Arianespace is the world's commercial space launch leader, with more than 50 percent of the global market for launching satellites into geostationary orbit. Clients include NASA, AT&T and the Hughes Aircraft Corporation.

• In 2004, the French built the Queen Mary 2, the world's largest, most advanced passenger cruise ship ever conceived.

• The French constructed the world's tallest bridge in 2005; the Millau Viaduct's roadway is almost four times the height of the roadway on the Golden Gate Bridge; its tallest tower is just 125 feet shorter than the Empire State Building.

Greece Facts | Interesting Facts about Greece

Interesting Facts about Greece:

• Greece has the largest merchant fleet in the world.

• Greek-owned ships lead in the world’s merchant tonnage.

• The Greek fleet accounts for 16 percent of the global shipping force.

Hungary Facts | Interesting Facts about Hungary

Interesting Facts about Hungary:

• Hungary tops the world’s leading trading nations in imports and exports as a share of GDP.

• Forty-five of the top fifty multinational companies are present in Hungary.

• Stock prices at the Budapest Stock market rose by 40 percent from mid 2003 to mid 2004.

Ireland Facts | Interesting Facts about Ireland

Interesting Facts about Ireland:

• Ireland leads the world in high technology exports as a share of total exports. Over half of Ireland's manufacturing exports are high technology products.

• Ireland is the world's biggest recipient of foreign direct investment dollars as a share of GDP.

• Ireland was proclaimed the third most liberalized economy in the world almost displacing number two ranked Singapore in the most recent Heritage Foundation  Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom.

Italy Facts | Interesting Facts about Italy

Interesting Facts about Italy:

• Italy is ranked as the world’s 6th largest industrial economy. According to the OECD, Italy's Gross Domestic Product (GDP at PPP values) is the sixth largest in the world.

• Italy is home to the greatest number of sites on UNESCO’s world heritage list; many exhibits in America and throughout the world originated in Italy.

• Italy has been and is a major player, along with the United States and other European allies, in peacekeeping, stabilization, and reconstruction in the Balkans and the Broader Middle East, including Afghanistan and Iraq.

• The city of Torino hosted the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, which were a great success in terms of organizational efficiency and security as well as an intense celebration of sport and friendship.

Latvia Facts | Interesting Facts about Latvia

Interesting Facts about Latvia:

• Latvia has the highest GDP growth in the EU: 10.2 percent in 2005.

• The Latvian Lats to U.S. dollar exchange rate is approximately 1:2--$2=1 Lats.

• A high number of women are represented in Latvia’s political leadership, including the Latvian President, Speaker of Parliament, and Minister of Defense.

• Cell phone coverage is available over 99 percent of Latvia’s territory.

Lithuania Facts | Interesting Facts about Lithuania

Interesting Facts about Lithuania:

• In March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence from Moscow.

• The inflation rate in Lithuania is the lowest in Europe.

• The productivity growth of Lithuanian companies exceeds the rapidly rising average productivity growth of Central European companies.

• Lithuania is the largest EU contributor to the NBA: 6 players this year.

Luxembourg Facts | Interesting Facts about Luxembourg

Interesting Facts about Luxembourg:

• Residents of Luxembourg rank No. 2 in the world in their standard of living and per capita income.

• Luxembourg leads the world in mobile telephone access. In 2003, Luxembourg had more cell phones than total inhabitants.

• Luxembourg ranks as the world’s top city for personal safety and security.

• Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita ($58,900) in the world.

The Netherlands Facts | Interesting Facts about Netherlands

Interesting Facts about Netherlands:

• Although often called ‘Holland’, our official name is ‘The Netherlands’ – which means lowlands. One-third of the Netherlands is below sea level. The Netherlands' highest point is about 1000 feet high and they call it a ‘mountain.’

• While the Netherlands comprises only 0.008% of the world's area, it is the world's third largest agricultural exporter. Rotterdam’s seaport is the world’s largest port in size and tonnage.

• The Dutch are strong inventors and developed the compact disc, the microscope, and the artificial heart.

• 800 Dutch companies in the U.S. employ over 350,000 Americans. Skippy Peanut Butter, Ponds, Ben & Jerry’s, Hellman’s, Slim Fast, and Close-up are Dutch products.

Interesting Facts about Portugal

Interesting Facts about Portugal:

• Portugal could become the world's 10th largest tourism market by 2020, attracting almost quadruple the current number of tourists, according to the World Tourism Organization. Wine tourism is growing at a strong 7 to 12 per cent a year in Europe, and Portugal is one of the main destinations. Portugal’s annual income from the golf industry represents 1.25 per cent of national income and 14 per cent of all income from tourism.

• In relative terms, Portugal invests more than the EU average in education; the average ratio of one teacher to every nine students is one of the highest in the world. Portugal ranks as number one among the advanced industrialized nations in the number of Internet subscribers per capita.

• Portugal had the second highest GDP growth rates in Europe over the last 40 years.

Interesting Facts about Slovakia

Interesting Facts about Slovakia:

• Eugen Andrew Cernan, Apollo 17 captain, and the second American who walked on the Moon, was of the Slovak origin.

• Among Slovakia’s reknowned native sons are: Jozef Murgas, inventor of radiotelegraphy; stefan Banic, constructed the first parachute based on the principle of the umbrella; Maximilián Hell (1720 – 1792), a mathematician and astronomer, was the first to measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

• The hill known as Krahule near the town Kremnica, Slovakia, is the geographical center of Europe.

• In 2007, the Slovakian automotive industry will produce 950,000-1,000,000 cars per year, giving the country the highest per capita car production in the world.

Interesting Facts about Slovenia

Interesting Facts about Slovenia:

• Slovenia is one of the best economic performers in Central and Eastern Europe with GDP per capita at $17,008 in 2005 and receives the highest credit rating of all transition economies.

• Slovenia's Port of Koper on the Adriatic Sea provides a 7-10 day shorter route for shipments arriving from Asia than do Europe's northern ports.

• Slovenians in their first state, Carinthia, practiced the unique custom of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia (7th –14th century). According to some scholars, the ritual of installing Carinthian dukes carried out in the Slovenian language and the democratic arrangement between people and ruler is said to have influenced Thomas Jefferson's drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

• Several exceptional sportsmen of this nation of two million have made it into the halls of fame of extreme sports achievements. Among them are ultra-marathon swimmer Martin Strel, the first to swim the Mississippi River, and Jure Robic, the two time winner of RAAM - the endurance bicycle race from the west to the east coast of the United States.

Interesting Facts about Spain

Interesting Facts about Spain:

• Thirteen of the 15 major North American oil and gas companies have Spanish management, control, and information systems installed.

• The Tampa Bay Water Authority has selected a Spanish firm to repair, redesign, and operate the Apollo Beachplant, the largest desalination facility in the U.S.

• Six Spanish companies were among the top 10 private infrastructure-management companies of 2004, according to Public Works Financing, the leading industry magazine.

• A Spanish company, Abengoa Bioenergy, is the second largest biofuels producer in the world.

Interesting Facts about Sweden

Interesting Facts about Sweden:

• Sweden has the second highest proportion of women in its national parliament, 45.3 per cent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

• Sweden’s Ericsson is a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally. Over 1,000 networks in 140 countries utilize network equipment from Ericsson and 40 percent of all mobile calls are made through Ericsson’s systems.

• Sweden is the third largest music exporter in the world, after the U.S. and Britain.

• Sweden is the number one nation in environmental protection and sustainability policies and aims to be the first country in the world to become oil independent by the year 2020.

Interesting Facts about Bulgaria

Interesting Facts about Bulgaria:

Bulgaria occupies a strategic location between Europe and Asia, and is a center of political and economic stability in South-Eastern Europe. Historically, Bulgaria has been a nation of proven ethnic and religious tolerance.

Bulgaria is second in the world in international IQ tests and SAT scores and fourth in the world in per capita university education after the U.S., Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Bulgaria boasts a highly skilled labor force that is cost-competitive, with 5,000 computer science graduates annually and more that 20,000 professionals employed in the IT sector (from a population of 7.9 million). Intensive foreign language training is part of the curriculum - e.g. 429,000 secondary school students follow the English only language program every year.

Bulgaria has established itself as a preferred tourist destination, with almost 5 million tourists in 2005 (more than half of the country's population and an increase of 16 percent over 2004), visiting its spa, mountain.

Interesting Facts about Romania

Interesting Facts about Romania:

Romania has been one of the five fastest growing economies in Europe during the last five years. Romania is number four in the top of 10 countries with highest growth rate in tourism development, with an estimated potential of 8 percent from 2007 – 2016 (The World Travel and Tourism Council).

Constanta Port, located on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, is the 2nd largest port in Europe.

Romania is one of the largest wine producers in Europe with a vineyard surface of 243,000 hectares and an annual production of 5 to 6 million hectoliters. Archaeological finds and historical documents place the beginnings of wine culture on the present territory of Romania some 4000 years ago.

Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci was the the first Olympic gymnast ever to score a perfect 10, at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

List of countries in the World

List of countries around the world. Read the alphabetical list of all countries in the world with capitals.

(A)

•     Afghanistan (Kabul)
•     Albania (Tirane)
•     Algeria (Algiers)
•     Andorra (Andorra la Vella)
•     Angola (Luanda)
•     Antigua and Barbuda (St. John's)
•     Argentina (Buenos Aires)
•     Armenia (Yerevan)
•     Australia (Canberra)
•     Austria (Vienna)
•     Azerbaijan (Baku)

(B)

•     Bahamas (Nassau)
•     Bahrain (Manama)
•     Bangladesh (Dhaka)
•     Barbados (Bridgetown)
•     Belarus (Minsk)
•     Belgium (Brussels)
•     Belize (Belmopan)
•     Benin (Porto-Novo)
•     Bhutan (Thimphu)
•     Bolivia (Sucre)
•     Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo)
•     Botswana (Gaborone)
•     Brazil (Brasilia)
•     Brunei (Bandar Seri Begawan)
•     Bulgaria (Sofia)
•     Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou)
•     Burma/Myanmar (Nay Pyi Taw)
•     Burundi (Bujumbura)

(C)

•     Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
•     Cameroon (Yaounde)
•     Canada (Ottawa)
•     Cape Verde (Praia) (EU - Portugal)
•     Central African Republic (Bangui)
•     Chad (N'Djamena)
•     Chile (Santiago)
•     China (Beijing)
•     Colombia (Bogota)
•     Comoros (Moroni)
•     Congo (Brazzaville)
•     Congo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa)
•     Costa Rica (San Jose)
•     Cote d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast (Yamoussoukro)
•     Croatia (Zagreb)
•     Cuba (Havana)
•     Cyprus (Nicosia) and/or
•     Czech Republic (Prague)

(D)

•     Denmark (Copenhagen)
•     Djibouti (Djibouti)
•     Dominica (Roseau)
•     Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo)

(E)

•     East Timor (Dili)
•     Ecuador (Quito)
•     Egypt (Cairo)
•     El Salvador (San Salvador)
•     Equatorial Guinea (Malabo)
•     Eritrea (Asmara)
•     Estonia (Tallinn)
•     Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)

(F)

•     Fiji (Suva) (AU - Oceania)
•     Finland (Helsinki)
•     France (Paris)

(G)

•     Gabon (Libreville)
•     Gambia (Banjul)
•     Georgia (Tbilisi)
•     Germany (Berlin)
•     Ghana (Accra)
•     Greece (Athens)
•     Grenada (St. George's)
•     Guatemala (Guatemala City)
•     Guinea (Conakry)
•     Guinea-Bissau (Bissau)
•     Guyana (Georgetown)

(H)

•     Haiti (Port-au-Prince)
•     Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
•     Hungary (Budapest)

(I)

•     Iceland (Reykjavik)
•     India (New Delhi)
•     Indonesia (Jakarta)
•     Iran (Tehran)
•     Iraq (Baghdad)
•     Ireland (Dublin)
•     Israel (Jerusalem)
•     Italy (Rome)

(J)

•     Jamaica (Kingston)
•     Japan (Tokyo)
•     Jordan (Amman)

(K)

•     Kazakhstan (Astana)
•     Kenya (Nairobi)
•     Kiribati (South Tarawa) (AU - Oceania)
•     Korea, North (Pyongyang)
•     Korea, South (Seoul)
•     Kuwait (Kuwait City)
•     Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)

(L)

•     Laos (Vientiane)
•     Latvia (Riga)
•     Lebanon (Beirut)
•     Lesotho (Maseru)
•     Liberia (Monrovia)
•     Libya (Tripoli)
•     Liechtenstein (Vaduz)
•     Lithuania (Vilnius)
•     Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

(M)

•     Macedonia (Skopje)
•     Madagascar (Antananarivo)
•     Malawi (Lilongwe)
•     Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
•     Maldives (Male)
•     Mali (Bamako)
•     Malta (Valletta)
•     Marshall Islands (Majuro) (AU - Oceania)
•     Mauritania (Nouakchott)
•     Mauritius (Port Louis)
•     Mexico (Mexico City)
•     Micronesia (Palikir) (AU - Oceania)
•     Moldova (Chisinau)
•     Monaco (Monaco)
•     Mongolia (Ulan Bator)
•     Montenegro (Podgorica)
•     Morocco (Rabat) (including Western Sahara)
•     Mozambique (Maputo)

(N)

•     Namibia (Windhoek)
•     Nauru (no official capital) (AU - Oceania)
•     Nepal (Kathmandu)
•     Netherlands (Amsterdam, The Hague)
•     New Zealand (Wellington)
•     Nicaragua (Managua)
•     Niger (Niamey)
•     Nigeria (Abuja)
•     Norway (Oslo)

(O)

•     Oman (Muscat)

(P)

•     Pakistan (Islamabad)
•     Palau (Koror) (AU - Oceania)
•     Panama (Panama City)
•     Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby)
•     Paraguay (Asuncion)
•     Peru (Lima)
•     Philippines (Manila)
•     Poland (Warsaw)
•     Portugal (Lisbon)

(Q)

•     Qatar (Doha)

(R)

•     Romania (Bucharest)
•     Russian Federation (Moscow)
•     Rwanda (Kigali)

(S)

•     Saint Kitts and Nevis (Basseterre)
•     Saint Lucia (Castries)
•     Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Kingstown)
•     Samoa (Apia) (AU - Oceania)
•     San Marino (San Marino)
•     Sao Tome and Principe (Sao Tome)
•     Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
•     Senegal (Dakar)
•     Serbia (Belgrade)
•     Seychelles (Victoria)
•     Sierra Leone (Freetown)
•     Singapore (Singapore City)
•     Slovakia (Bratislava)
•     Slovenia (Ljubljana)
•     Solomon Islands (Honiara) (AU - Oceania)
•     Somalia (Mogadishu)
•     South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein)
•     South Sudan (Juba)
•     Spain (Madrid)
•     Sri Lanka (Colombo)
•     Sudan (Khartoum)
•     Suriname (Paramaribo)
•     Swaziland (Mbabane)
•     Sweden (Stockholm)
•     Switzerland (Bern)
•     Syria (Damascus)

(T)

•     Tajikistan (Dushanbe)
•     Tanzania (Dodoma)
•     Thailand (Bangkok)
•     Togo (Lome)
•     Tonga (Nuku'alofa) (AU - Oceania)
•     Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain)
•     Tunisia (Tunis)
•     Turkey (Ankara)
•     Turkmenistan (Ashgabat)
•     Tuvalu (Funafuti) (AU - Oceania)

(U)

•     Uganda (Kampala)
•     Ukraine (Kiev)
•     United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi)
•     United Kingdom (London)
•     United States (Washington D.C.)
•     Uruguay (Montevideo)
•     Uzbekistan (Tashkent)

(V)

•     Vanuatu (Port-Vila) (AU - Oceania)
•     Vatican City
•     Venezuela (Caracas)
•     Vietnam (Hanoi)

(Y)

•     Yemen (Sana)

(Z)

•     Zambia (Lusaka)
•     Zimbabwe (Harare)

Estonia Facts | Interesting Facts about Estonia

Interesting Facts about Estonia:

• Estonia was the first country to adopt a flat tax. It has no hidden taxes and corporate investment is exempt from corporate income tax.

• Estonia has had an average growth rate of about 6 percent over the past five years. It is so wired that it is nicknamed E-stonia. Bars and cafes are universally equipped with wireless connections.

• Skype, designed by Estonian developers, offers free calls over the Internet to millions of people.

Poland Facts | Interesting Fun Facts about Poland

Interesting Facts about Poland:

• Poland gave birth to one of the largest citizens’ movements in modern history, led by Nobel laureate, Lech Walesa, which led to the fall of Communism in Europe.

• Polish glass makers built and operated the first factory in the New World, in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608.

• Poland’s labor force is among the strongest in the world and is ranked 3rd for labor utilization, above the U.S. and Japan.

• Poland holds the world's fifth-largest proven reserves of hard and brown coal in addition to deposits of copper, sulfur, zinc, lead, and silver, as well as magnesium and rock salt.