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The world's hottest
place: Death Valley National Park
The highest air
temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees Fahrenheit, at Death Valley
National Park on July 10, 1913.
The world's coldest
place: East Antarctic Plateau
On the high ridge of
the East Antarctic Plateau, the temperature can drop to as low as -135.8 degrees
Fahrenheit,
recorded in August,
2010.
World's most populated
city: Shanghai
At a whopping
24,150,000 permanent inhabitants, Shanghai is the single city that is home to
the most people in the world.
World's least populated
city: Vatican City
With a paltry
population of 842, the city-state of Vatican City is the smallest city and state
in the world.
World's wealthiest city:
Tokyo
That tower might as
well be made of gold, since Tokyo tops the charts with a GDP of $1,520
billion
(only beating New York
by a mere $310 billion).
World's poorest city:
Kinshasa
Kinshasa is probably
the poorest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the poorest country in
the world, at a GDP of $55 billion. Many of its residents live on less $1 a
day.
BUT THEY STILL CHOSE TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE!
Highest point in the
world: Mount Everest
Towering 29,029 feet
in the air, the top of Mount Everest is the closest you can get to touching
space, while still standing on Earth.
Lowest point in the
world: Challenger Deep
The lowest known
natural point in the world is Challenger Deep, 35,797 ft below sea level at the
bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Only three people have
ever made it to the bottom, one of which was filmmaker James
Cameron.
Most photographed place:
The Guggenheim
Photos have always
told stories, but in today's world of cell phone cameras and social media, that
story is relayed as data to companies who monitor everything we do. Geotagged
data was culled by Sightsmap using a Google-based image sharing software, and
can now show us the most photographed places in the world, right down to the
landmark. The Winner? The Guggenheim in New York.
The world's most popular
country: Germany
The results of the
annual BBC World Country Rating Poll are in, and Germany came out on top as the
most positively viewed country in the world among people probably under the age
of 85 (at a 59% positivity rating).
The wettest spot on
Earth: Mawsynram, India
Rainwise, anyway. In
Mawsynram, India, it rains an average of 467.35 inches per year, and with a
record of 1000 inches in 1985.
The driest spot on
Earth: The Atacama Desert
The 600 miles of
South America's Atacama desert is the driest place on Earth, no
contest.
The Desert sees an
average of 4 inches of rain every thousand years. Yes, you read that
right.
Sunniest Place on Earth:
Yuma, Arizona
In Yuma, Arizona,
the sun shines for an average of 11 hours a day. Its forecast is sun for 90
percent of the year,
averaging a total of
4015 daylight hours a year.
Most expensive city to
live in: Singapore
The new champion of
the world, Singapore has recently beat out Tokyo for the title of "most
expensive city" for 2014.
Cars can cost between
4-6 times in Singapore what they cost in the US or UK (for example, a Toyota
Prius actually
costs about $150,000.00
there).
Least expensive city to
live in: Mumbai, India
At the other end of
the spectrum, Mumbai, India, is the cheapest place to live in the world,
according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Index 2014. For some perspective, a
loaf of bread that would cost $3.36 in Singapore, would only cost $0.91 in
Mumbai.
Country that consumes
the most food: United States
I suppose there must
be a reason why Americans have a food-related reputation when it comes to other
countries:
we eat an average of
3,770 calories a day each.
The world's oldest city:
Damascus
There's quite a bit
of controversy over which city gets to officially claim the title of "oldest
continuously inhabited city."
With evidence of
civilization that extends back over 11,000 years, Damascus in Syria is probably
the safest bet.
Youngest country in the
world: South Sudan
The people of South
Sudan were formally recognized as an independent country in 2011, making it the
youngest country
in the world
to-date.
The world's most visited
city: London
After a several-year
bout with Bangkok, London has regained its place as the world's most visited
city
(according to
MasterCard's 2014 Global Destinations City Index). The city sees about 18.69
million
international visitors
annually, generating $19.3 billion in revenue.
The world's least
popular country: Iran
On that same rating
scale, Iran has come in dead last (at a 59% negativity
rating).
Only 15% of people
polled viewed Iran in a positive light.
The world's most
dangerous city: San Pedro Sula, Honduras
In San Pedro Sula,
Honduras, there are over 3 murders a day.
The violence stems from
the city's role as a major hub for illegal drug and arms
trafficking.
Most caffeinated country
in the world: Sweden
The coffee in Sweden
will put a spring in your step, and hair on your tongue. The Swedes
consume
an average of 388 mg of
caffeine in coffee per person, per day (that's almost 5 Red
Bulls).
Most drunken country in
the world: Belarus
In Belarus, each
person above the age of 15 drinks an average of 4.62 gallons of alcohol every
year.
The most bicycle
friendly city in the world: Groningen, Netherlands
By comparing cities
along the criterion of average number of bicycle trips made daily, one city
reigns supreme:
Groningen in the
Netherlands. In Groningen about 50 percent of the population commute via bike
daily, making
it the city with the
greatest proportion of cyclists on the planet.
World's most energy
efficient city: Reykjavik, Iceland
All of the energy
and heat used by the citizens of Reykjavik Iceland come from geothermal plants
and renewable hydropower,
making it the most
sustainable and energy efficient city in the world. on their mission to be
completely free of fossil fuels by 2050,
the city has also been
replacing traditional buses with hydrogen-fueled buses, from which the only
emissions are water.
Most cat friendly
country: United States
With a pet cat
population of 76.43 million feline friends, the United States dominates the
world stage
for most cat friendly
country in the world.
Most dog friendly
country: United States
Similarly, America
more than doubles the amount of pet dogs any other country has, with a dog
population of 61.1 million.
Most sexually satisfied
country: Switzerland
Switzerland might
just be the most progressive and least sexually repressed country in the
world.
Between liberal views on
pornography and prostitution, and sex ed that starts in
Kindergarten,
over a fifth of the
population consider their sex-lives "excellent." They even recently opened up
a
very successful array of
tax-funded drive-in sex boxes in Zurich. Bonus, in spite of all
this,
Switzerland also holds
the title as one of the lowest teen birth rates in the
world.
Least sexually satisfied
country: Japan
With its extreme
conservatism, Japan is the country with the least sexual satisfaction, as only
15% of individuals
reported having a
fulfilling sex life. Furthermore, over 45% of Japanese women report being either
uninterested in,
or actually despising,
sexual contact
Most emotional country
in the world: Philippines
Polling citizens in
150 countries over the years of 2009-2011, researchers found that the people of
the Philippines
were the most likely to
respond emotionally to simple questions about their
day.
Least emotional country
in the world: Singapore
That same study
revealed that Singaporeans experience the least emotion on the
day-to-day.
Only 3 out of every 10
reported having any emotional reactions to basic scenarios or when describing
their days.
Country with the longest
life expectancy in the world: Monaco
According to the
World Health Organization's study from 2013, Monaco tops the charts for longest
living citizens, with an
average life expectancy
of 87.2 years. Men in Monaco live an average 85.3 years, and women live to an
average of 89 years.
Country with the
shortest life expectancy: Sierra Leone
On the other side of
that coin, the population of Sierra Leone live to an average of 47
years.
The men of Sierra Leone
live to an average of 47 years old, whereas women live an average of 48
years.
Sexiest country in the
world: Brazil and Australia
There will always be
a debate about which countries are home to the most attractive people, in part
because who's to say what is
objectively attractive?
Though the means are hardly scientific, a recent poll found quite a disparity
between which countries men
believe are the sexiest,
and which countries women find the sexiest. For men, Brazil tops the charts for
the most attractive people.
For women, it's about
the thunder down under in Australia.
Most stressed-out
country in the world: Nigeria
By looking at the
dimensions of Homicide Rate, GDP per capita, Income inequality, Corruption, and
Unemployment,
one thing is clear:
Nigeria is hands-down the most stressed out country in the
world.
Least stressed-out
country in the world: Norway
Along the same
dimensions, Norway was at the far-end of the other side of the
spectrum,
and is deemed the least
stressed-out country in the world.
Country with the highest
average IQ: Hong Kong*
There are a lot of
factors that can affect an IQ score, ranging from national and personal wealth
to simply who makes the test.
As a result, these
findings are highly controversial, but seem to suggest that Hong Kong is the
country* with the highest IQ,
at an average of 107
points.
*Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China
meaning that it falls within the sovereignty of the People's
Republic
of China, yet does not
form part of Mainland China, and has it's own
government.
Country with the lowest
average IQ: Equatorial Guinea
According to "IQ and
the Wealth of Nations," Equatorial Guinea caps the low end of the global IQ
range,
with a national average
of 59 points.
World's most
well-connected city (for internet): Seoul, South
Korea
Surprisingly,
despite it's 618 million internet users spending an average of 18.7 hours a week
surfing the net,
China didn't even make
the top 10. Along the dimensions of average connection speed,
availability
(weighted towards free
access), openness to innovation, support of public data, and
privacy/security,
Seoul in South Korea is
the champion of internet-connectedness. With 10,000 government supported
free
WiFi spots dotting the
city, and an internet speed that goes unchallenged globally, Seoul is an
internet
junkie's
paradise. | 
