Fun Facts About the World

Brush up on your facts about our world or help your kids get a leg up before they get to kindergarten. If you have an atlas or current geography text to use as a visual aid, along with this article, the lesson will be most beneficial.

The largest countries in land mass are Russia, Canada, and the United States.

There are over 6.7 billion people living on Earth.

The most widely spoken languages are Chinese, Spanish, and English.

Africa

Africa consists of 54 countries. Sudan is the largest country and Nigeria has the highest population.

Most of northern Africa is populated by Arabs. Europeans generally live in South Africa.

Africans speak Arabic or native languages. The primary European languages are English, French, and Portuguese.

Europe

Europe consists of 45 countries. All of these countries are in an area only a little larger than the United States.

Europeans are a very diverse people. Most of them live in cities rather than rural areas.

There are 50 different languages spoken on the continent of Europe.

South America

South America is a large land mass made up of 13 countries.

Most people in South America are descended from people from Spain, Portugal, or Africa.

Spanish and Portuguese are the primary languages. Amer-indians have their own languages.

North America

North America is made up of Greenland, Canada, United States of America, and Mexico, as well as 21 smaller countries to the South.

North America is populated with people from all over the world including Native Americans.

The primary languages are English and Spanish. Native Americans may also have many languages.

Australia

Australia is part of a region known as Oceania, which is made up of Australia, New Zealand, and many island nations in the Pacific..

There are more people on the continent of Asia than on any other continent. There are many different ethnic groups.

Asia has many different languages. India has 16 official languages.

Antarctica

There are no countries on the continent of Antarctica. Other countries use it strictly for scientific research.

Antarctica has no permanent human residents. Scientists and explorers visit to conduct experiments and research.

There is no permanent population on Antarctica, so there is no official language.

Our World

Asia is the largest continent at 17,208,000 square miles.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest at 65,436,200 square miles.

Mt. Everest, in Asia, is the highest mountain in the world, at 29,035 feet high.

Australia is the smallest continent at 2,968,000 square miles.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest at 5,390,000 square miles.

The Sahara Desert, in Africa, is the largest at 3,475,000 square miles.

China has the most people in the world: 1,311,400,000.

The longest river in the world is the Nile River in Africa. It is 4,241 miles long.

The largest freshwater lake in the world is Lake Superior in North America. It is 31,700 square miles.