INTERNATIONAL SHAME
CLAIM TO FAME
Every country is famous for something…it just might not be for something they’re proud of.
HIGHEST MURDER RATE
The Central American nation of Honduras experiences 90.4 (reported) murders per 100,000 people each year. (In the United States, it’s just below five per 100,000.)
HIGHEST INCOME TAX
Belgium has a progressive tax, meaning people who earn more pay more. Its top rate is 50 percent, plus all employees pay a 13 percent social security tax. That works out to an average of about 42 percent of a paycheck going to the government. However, housing and groceries in Belgium are among the least expensive in the developed world, and the government pays for many social services, including health care. Belgians have the lowest out-of-pocket health care costs in western Europe.
MOST POLLUTED AIR
India’s sky is the dirtiest in the world. According to a study by the environmental crusaders at Greenpeace, seven of the ten cities with the world’s worst air quality (and 22 of the 30 most polluted cities) are in India.
POOREST COUNTRY
The Central African Republic. It’s got the lowest GDP in the world, with a per capita income of $700 per person.
WORST INFLATION
After political turmoil destabilized the country in 2018, Venezuela’s rate of inflation passed 1 million percent by the end of the year. The International Monetary Fund forecast that the nation could reach as high as 10 million percent by the end of 2019.
HIGHEST POPULATION DENSITY
Europe’s tiny (and wealthy) Principality of Monaco has the most people in the smallest space. Covering about three-quarters of a square mile, it’s home to just over 39,000 people, giving it a population density of about 49,000 people per square mile.
HEAVIEST DRINKERS
When you add up the alcohol in all of the beer, wine, and spirits consumed in the small European country of Moldova each year, the average person consumes 17.4 liters of pure alcohol each year.
Animal most likely to injure zookeepers: zebras.
One of the newest countries on earth, South Sudan (established in 2011), has the fewest literate adults. Only about 27 percent of men and women there can read.
MOST CANCEROUS
Australia, a land of much sunshine, leads the world in cancer rates. Each year, 468 out of 100,000 residents are diagnosed with cancer (primarily skin cancer). The United States is 5th highest with 352, Canada is 11th with 334, and Israel ranks 50th with 233 per 100,000. The lowest cancer rates can be found in Syria, Bhutan, and Nepal, at approximately 90 cases per 100,000 residents.
MOST SMOKERS
Per capita, the tiny mountainous nation of Andorra, which sits between Spain and France, smokes the most. Each year, the average Andorran purchases and smokes 6,398 cigarettes. That’s just under a pack a day for every man, woman, and child.
MOST STRESSED
According to a Bloomberg study that factored in murder rates, GDP, income inequality, unemployment, and life expectancy, the most beleaguered country in the world is Nigeria, with a score of 70.1. (Number 2: South Africa, with a score of 70.)
HIGHEST OBESITY RATE
The Pacific Ocean island nation of Nauru is small, but its people are large. Just over 60 percent of the population is considered obese. (According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 40 percent of Americans are classified as obese.)
LOWEST LIFE EXPECTANCY
Due to a poor health care system and infrastructure that allows for the spread of disease, the people in Chad live, on average, to the age of 49 years and 9 months. (In the tiny, wealthy European nation of Monaco, the average lifespan is 89.)
REALITY TV STARS WHO BECAME POLITICIANS
LAURA MORETT (Survivor) ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Oregon legislature in 2016.
KEVIN POWELL (The Real World) ran for Congress in New York three times…and lost.
CLAY AIKEN (American Idol) ran for a House seat representing North Carolina in 2014.
SEAN DUFFY (The Real World) is currently a U.S. representative from Wisconsin.
DONALD TRUMP (The Apprentice) was elected president of the United States in 2016.
Paper trail: More than 27,000 trees a day are made into toilet paper.