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Papua New Guinea tops the world in linguistic diversity, with 843 living languages in 2025
  • Papua New Guinea remains unmatched: With 843 living languages, the Pacific nation continues to hold the title of the world’s most linguistically diverse country.
  • Nigeria tops Africa: Hosting 530 living languages, Nigeria ranks third globally and stands as Africa’s richest linguistic hub.
  • Indonesia (709) and India (454) are also in the top five, showcasing the dense cultural mosaic across Asia.
  • Even large, developed countries like the U.S. (239), Australia (225), and Brazil (222) make the list, proving that language diversity transcends geography and development.

France has 13 time zones, while almost all African countries have just one, except South Africa and DR Congo
  • France tops the world with 13 time zones, owing largely to its overseas territories spread across the globe.
  • The US and Russia follow closely, each spanning 11 time zones, reflecting their massive geographic spread.
  • In contrast, Africa remains highly unified, with just two countries, DR Congo and South Africa, operating two time zones each.
  • Most nations on the list, including Brazil, Mexico, and Spain, fall between 2–4 zones, underscoring how rare double-digit time zone coverage is.

USA leads FIBA Women’s Basketball global rankings; Nigeria breaks into top 10 with 640.1 points as the only African country
  • The USA dominates the rankings with 880.9 points, holding a significant lead over second-placed Australia (719.6).
  • France and China follow closely in 3rd and 4th, separated by just 6.5 points.
  • Nigeria’s D’Tigress ranks 8th globally with 640.1 points, the highest for any African nation.
  • Brazil and Serbia round out the top 10, both under 640 points.

The United States, Canada, and Iran account for over 50% of the world’s 1,802 active oil rigs in 2024, with Nigeria ranking 15th globally with 31 rigs
  • The United States remains the undisputed leader with 589 active rigs, accounting for nearly a third of all rigs worldwide in 2024.
  • Canada (162 rigs) and Iran (117 rigs) follow as the second and third highest contributors to global drilling activity.
  • Middle Eastern producers dominate the top 10, with Kuwait (80), UAE (73), Saudi Arabia (70), Iraq (62), and Oman (50) collectively operating 335 rigs.
  • Nigeria ranks 15th globally with 31 active rigs, making it one of only two African nations in the global top 20.
  • The top 10 countries account for over 75% of the world’s active rigs, reflecting the continued concentration of drilling infrastructure in a handful of key oil-producing regions.

The United States of America hosts over 3,700 data centres, 8× more than any other country as of May 2025
  • The U.S. dominates globally with 3,757 data centers, more than 8× any other country in the top 10.
  • Germany and the U.K. follow distantly with 443 and 428 data centres, respectively.
  • No African country makes the top 10, emphasising the infrastructure gap.
  • Africa's top three show modest but notable progress: South Africa ranks 36th (49 data centres), Kenya 54th (18), and Nigeria 56th (16).

The top 15 countries accounted for 68.8% of global gold production in 2023, with four African nations among the leaders
Key takeaways:
  • China led global gold production with 378.16 tonnes, representing approximately 10.4% of global output.
  • The top five producers (China, Russia, Australia, Canada, and the United States) collectively produced 37% of the world’s gold.
  • African nations showed remarkable strength, with four countries in the top 15 (Ghana, Mali, South Africa, and Burkina Faso).
  • Ghana led Africa in gold production and ranked 6th globally, producing 135.11 tonnes in 2023.
  • China, Australia, and Russia together produced nearly 1,000 tonnes of gold, accounting for 27.3% of total world production.

Top countries with the lowest and highest life expectancy in 2024
Key takeaways:
  • African countries have the lowest life expectancy.
  • Most of the countries with the highest life expectancy are in Europe and Asia
  • The countries with the highest life expectancy are mostly developed nations.
  • Thirteen countries were observed to have a life expectancy above 84 years, while 11 countries have a life expectancy below 61 years.

Nearly 11 in 50 health and care work visas issued by the UK in 2023 went to Nigerians
In 2023, the UK issued nearly 350k skilled health and care visas, representing 57% of the total work visas (616k) issued, with Indian and Nigerian nationals receiving a combined 50% of the visas issued. Nigeria received 82.8k, approximately 13% of the total work visas issued.

Nigeria ranks second in UK work visa applications for 2023, behind India
In 2023, Nigeria emerged as the second-largest source of UK work visa applications, with 92.7k applications, trailing only India (171.8k). This places Nigeria ahead of other countries like the Philippines (29.5k), Ghana (36.2k), Pakistan (48.4k), and Zimbabwe (50.3k). Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Ghana were the top African countries seeking work in the UK in 2023.

Top ten countries by medals won in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
The United States of America dominated the 2020 Olympic Games, winning a total of 113 medals followed by China with 88. No African country is in the top ten by the number of medals won.

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