We talk about the happiest country in the world (it’s Finland), or the most prosperous (Denmark), or the one with the best healthcare (depending on the definition of “best,” it could be Norway, the Netherlands, or Australia). The Expatsi test essentially exists to help sort through the most important qualities of each potential country.
But what about the least important qualities? The Expatsi test doesn’t account for those — but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. So here are eight countries that are the most when it matters the least.
The country with the most holidays
While India and Nepal generally battle for the top of this list, Nepal’s highly diverse culture produces enough religious observances, regional celebrations, ethnic festivals, and other events to top the list. With 35 public holidays a year, every occasion is a special occasion.
The most diverse country
Nepal might be extremely diverse (124 mother tongues, as of a 2021 census), but it’s not the most diverse. The honor goes to Uganda, which boasts an ethnic fractionalization score (based on a calculation of ethnic, religious, and linguistic differences) of 93.02%. It’s home to more than 50 distinct indigenous ethnic groups.
The country with the longest coastline
If you’re a dedicated beachgoer looking for the world’s longest coastline, you might think about Australia, since the country is all coastline. You’ll want to pack a sweater, though, because the longest coastline actually belongs to Canada, with 125,567 miles along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Ocean.
The country with the most islands
The country with the most islands also requires a warm sweater — Sweden comes in at the top with 267,570 islands. It’s followed by Norway, with 239,057, and Finland, with 178,947, before the numbers drop off significantly.
The country with the most wineries
When the topic of wine comes up, France usually comes to mind. But the real winner for wineries is its neighbor to the south, Spain. Spain is home to around 4,100 wineries, spread across 961,000 hectares of land — that’s 13 percent of all winery land in the world.
The country with the most libraries per capita
Book lovers might enjoy a visit to Slovakia, which tops the list with 138 libraries per 100,000 residents. For scale, far outpaces the next two competitors on the list — Palau, with 113 per 100,000, and Finland with 110.
The country with the smallest population
For the solitude of a small population, the country with the smallest is Vatican City, which is a population of 517 very specific people. The next smallest is the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which has 11,387 people spread across six coral atolls.
The country with the most dogs per capita
Even figuring out how to count dogs is challenging, so it’s hard to nail down a precise figure. Going by best estimates, Argentina comes out on top. The country has 9.2 million dogs overall, which works out to just under 5 dogs per person.
