Top 10 coun­tries facts

Women were allowed to participate in athletic competitions. The decision to include women in athletic competitions was widely criticised not only by the majority of the sport community, but also by Vatican.

In Venezuela. Catatumbo lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon in Venezuela. It occurs only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. The phenomenon is characterized by almost continuous lightning and occurs during 260 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour. It has been known for centuries as the Lighthouse of Maracaibo, since it is visible for miles around Lake Maracaibo

Austria. The Donauinselfest (German for Danube Island Festival) is a free open-air music festival taking place annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. With over 3 million visitors in 3 days, it's the biggest open-air music festival in the world.

Mexico. The official name of Mexico is the United States of Mexico. Several other such countries existed in the past, including the United States of Brazil (1937-1967), United States of Colombia (1863-1886) and United States of Indonesia (1949-1950).

United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has no official independence day, but some people celebrate it on the 2nd Saturday in June.

Poland. Back in 1980, Poland had land borders with Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and German Democratic Republic. Today it is neighboring Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia.

Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations in the world, being the third most atheist population behind China and Japan. 76% of Czechs are non-religious.

Monaco is far the world's most densely populated country with a population of just 32,410 per 2 cubic kilometers. Singapore is the next most populated mostly because of tourists, but only has about half of Monaco's population per sq. kilometer.

Switzerland. There are around 300 000 public and private shelters in Switzerland, which can accommodate 8,6 million people (114 % population). During the Cold War every new home had to be equipped with shelter for its residents. Now the regulations aren't so strict and only buildings with more than 28 living rooms are required to do so.

Van Zandt County has tried to break away from the U.S. state of Texas twice over the course of history. In the first instance, Van Zandt County was unhappy about Texas's cession from the union, as it was with little slaves. So, the county decided that they should be able to secede from Texas. The second time, Van Zandt tried to secede from the nation as a whole. This attempt failed, but their declaration of independence was never repealed, so it is technically still in effect.