Interesting Facts

In a survey that examines the good each country does for humanity as well as what it takes away, Britain has ranked 4th. (The Good Country Index placed Sweden first, Denmark second, and the Netherlands third, but the UK came above France and Germany because Britain does more “good” and less harm than more than 150 countries around the world. Britain came top for its global contribution to science and technology, thanks to the high number of journal exports, Nobel prizes and international publications it has produced,  was ranked 2nd on its global contribution to health and wellbeing, but it scored poorly on international security and peace, coming 64th out of 163 countries. Simon Anholt, who created the Good Country Index, said that while countries must serve the interests of their people it should not be at the expense of other populations.  I think we could apply that to ourselves as individuals too.)

According to a report by the WHO (World Health Organisation) 74% of men and 64% of women in the UK will be overweight by 2030. ( That's almost three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the UK are on their way to being overweight within 15 years. Medically speaking, b eing “overweight” is defined as having a BMI ( Body Mass Index ) of between 25 and 29.9.  Being  “obese” is defined by a BMI of 30 and above. Worryingly  other European countries are facing growing obesity problems including Greece, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic and even Sweden.   The only European country to escape is the Netherlands.  Must be all those bikes.) Source

According to a survey conducted by Win/Gallup International, the UK is among the least religious countries in the world. (The UK was 6th from last out of 65 countries, 30% considered themselves religious, 53% said they were not religious, and 13% said they were atheists. The remainder did not know how to define themselves. China was the least religious, with only 6% of people saying they were religious and 61% saying they were convinced atheists. Followed by Japan, where just 13% of people were religious, Sweden with 19%, Czech Republic with 23%, and the Netherlands and Hong Kong with 26%. The most religious countries were Thailand with 94%, followed by Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia and Morocco where 93% of people said they were religious.)

Lots of countries like the US, Sweden, France, Latvia, Bhutan, Jamaica, Mexico etc. have a national bird, but the UK doesn't. What about the chicken? (This might be about to change as a  famous ornithologist in the UK is asking the British public to vote for an official national  bird . There are 10 contenders:- The Mute Swan The Wren The Blue Tit The Puffin The Kingfisher The Red Kite The Barn Owl The Blackbird The Hen Harrier The Robin There are a couple of missing contenders - What about the sparrow, the pigeon, the chicken, or the seagull?)

According to the Gobal Gender Gap report, published by the WEF, Britain has dropped  eight places to stand 26th in the world for gender equality. (Not surprisingly the Nordic countries - Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark - were the most equal, and they have been joined by Nicaragua, Rwanda, Ireland, the Philippines and Belgium in the top 10. Yemen remained at the bottom of the chart for the ninth year in a row.) Source

According to the UKRC's “European Engineering Report” the UK has the lowest number of female engineers in the whole of Europe. (Only 9% of UK engineering professionals are women, compared to 18% in Spain, 20% in Italy, 26% in Sweden and 30% in Latvia. I wonder how many girls are given engineering as an option in careers advice days at school.)

Around two-thirds of Western countries charge patients to see their GP, fees range from 80p in France to £18 in Sweden, with an extra £5 for a home visit.  In the UK it is currently free (see below). (In some countries patients pay for hospital visits or stays, including Germany, and Sweden where they charge around £7.50 per night, and in Portugal you also have to pay £8 every time you go to A&E. According to a poll conducted by Pulse magazine, half of British GPs are in favour of charging patients for appointments - with some wanting to impose fees of between £5 and £25 a time. The problem is that it puts people off seeking medical help. Germany introduced a similar GP charge, but they later scrapped it.) We've been talking about this in the forum .

According to a UN-backed global study, Sweden is the best place in the world to be old. (Sweden, Norway and Germany headed the list, whilst Britain was rated 13th, one place behind Ireland. So, I guess I won't be moving any time soon.  Sorry to say Afghanistan, Tanzania and Pakistan ranked lowest, but don't worry, the only way is up.) Source: The Global AgeWatch Index is the first-ever overview of the wellbeing of older people around the world. http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/global-rankings/

According to a poll carried out in Europe by the website GrowingUpMilkInfo.com,   British children are the fussiest eaters in Europe. (Seemingly 26% of British children reject their meals every day, and 69% of children under five in the UK sometimes refuse to eat what they are given. The league table for fussy eaters is:- 1st - United Kingdom - 69% 2nd - Netherlands - 63% 3rd - Germany - 58%  and  Sweden - 58% 4th - France - 54% 5th - Spain - 40% Italy doesn't appear, probably because 37% of mothers in Italy said they are 'not bothered' about what their children eat.) Source

Finland has been rated the best place in the world to be a mum in the annual Mothers' Index compiled by Save the Children. (Sweden and Norway, were also at the top, while Germany was 9th, Australia 10th, France 16th and Ireland 20th, Britain came 23rd, behind most of her European neighbours, and the United States was placed 30th in the ranking of 176 countries. Mums in the poorest countries are at most risk, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world’s toughest place to be a mother.) Save the Children

The oldest Olympic medalist is Britain's John Copley. (A lot of people believe it was Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won his last medal at age 72, but Mr Copley was 73 when he won a silver medal in the 1948 Olympics. Of course his medal was for "etching", but a medal is a medal.)

Gideon Sundback, a Swedish-American electrical engineer, is credited with the invention of the zipper. (He was born on April 24th 1880 in Sweden, but the development work on the zip was carried out in the US as head designer at Universal Fastener. Sundback made several advances in the development of the zipper between 1906 and 1914, while working for companies that later evolved into Talon, Inc. He built upon the previous work of other engineers such as Elias Howe, Max Wolff, and Whitcomb Judson. He was responsible for improving the "Judson C-curity Fastener". At that time the company's product was still based on hooks and eyes. Sundback developed an improved version of the C-curity, called the "Plako", but it too had a strong tendency to pull apart, and wasn't any more successful than the previous versions. Sundback finally solved the pulling-apart problem in 1913, with his invention of the first version not based on the hook-and-eye principle, the ...

According to Swedish researchers, Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixon of Uppsala University, the chivalrous concept of "women and children first" is just a myth. (The Swedish researchers analyzed 18 of the world's most famous maritime disasters, ranging from the HMS Birkenhead that grounded in the Indian Ocean in 1852 to the MV Bulgaria tourist ship that sank on Russia's Volga River last year. Analyzing passenger lists, logs and registers, they found that men actually have a distinct survival advantage: Of the 15,000 people who died in the 18 accidents, only 17.8 percent of the women survived compared with 34.5 percent of the men, and sadly, in three of the shipwrecks, all the women died. In fact it gets even worse, the idea of going down with the ship is called into question too, as their studies have shown that captains and their crew are 18.7% more likely to survive a shipwreck than their passengers. So, it looks as if the expression `every man for himself...

16-year-old Mohamed Altoumaimi, an Iraqi immigrant living in central Sweden, has written a formula to explain a number of complex relationships dealing with Bernoulli numbers. (Mohamed, who moved with his family to Sweden six years ago, figured out the Bernoulli sequence of rational numbers, something that is normally reserved for much more seasoned mathematicians.)

Britons get angry more often than anyone else in Europe. (According to a survey commissioned by TV comedy channel GOLD, Brits fly into a rage an average of four times a day by things like queue jumping, traffic jams, rude service in shops, foreign call centres and having to deal with ill-mannered neighbours. In contrast Italians only get angry three and a half times a day, the French three times and apparently those living in Sweden, Norway and Denmark said they get irate just once every five days.)

powered by ODEO The first country in the world to ban smacking was Sweden. In fact Sweden has had an anti-smacking law since 1978. (In the UK the Children Bill outlawed smacking in England and Wales if it causes bruising or mental harm. In Europe; Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland Germany, Latvia and Norway have all banned smacking. I know where I'd want to live is I were a child.)

The Church of Sweden is a major shareholder in H&M. (This made me laugh because I didn't even know there was a "church of Sweden".)