Looking for fun facts about Scandinavia? You might be surprised by some of these:
- The world’s largest population of Arctic reindeer herders can be found in Norway. The connection between the people of this region and the reindeer dates back several thousand years. First, the people hunted them and then they tamed and herded the reindeer. Eventually, domesticated reindeer were used for their milk, meat, and for carrying and pulling things.
- The most popular souvenir in Sweden is the ‘moose crossing’ warning sign commonly seen along roads in Sweden. Swedes replace thousands of these road signs every year.
- Norway is slightly larger than the US state of New Mexico, and two-thirds of Norway are mountainous regions. Norway has almost 300 mountain peaks above 2,000 meters (more than 6,500 feet) in height.
- While Finland is called “The Land of 1,000 Lakes”, the country has more than 188,000 lakes with 98,000 islands.
- Now known all over the world, the inventors of LEGO toys started in Billund, Denmark, in 1932, making not LEGO blocks but stepladders! Billund is now home to the Legoland theme park.
- During Easter in Sweden, which is a well-known holiday there, children dress up and go from house to house asking for sweets, similar to Halloween.
- Sweden is known for its innovation and inventions. It is the country that first offered the perfect zipper, marine propeller, cooler, pacemaker, and even created your computer mouse. Not forgetting the much-loved discount furniture retailer IKEA and H&M fashion.
- Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, has sidewalks that are heated by geothermal heat in the winter. This takes care of shoveling the snow. Thermal groundwater, which is between 100 and 300 degrees C (between 212 and 636 degrees F) is also used to heat houses in Reykjavik.
- In Denmark, a flag is flown outside when it is someone’s birthday. If you are not married when you turn 30, you will receive a pepper shaker as a gift and the men will be called Pepperman (Danish: pebersvend ), while the women will be Peppermaid ( pebermø ).
- In Norway’s dark winter during polar nights, the sun rises for only 3 hours a day in some parts (and in others, it does not rise at all), a phenomenon said to affect and delay pregnancies in Norwegian women. On the other hand, the NRK reports that there are more births in Norway in April than in any other month, apart from the city of Bodø, where the majority of births are in October and November.
