Among all other EU regions, Eastern Europe is often considered the least prosperous. However, this is all very conditional – most countries are more or less prosperous here, and some are even able to give odds to many others. However, there are also poor corners of Eastern Europe, which have become known in part due to high crime rates and general poverty. Perhaps that is why for many Americans and Canadians a persistent Eastern European accent immediately causes wariness, although in reality, of course, this is simply ridiculous, but on the other side of the ocean it still remains an occasion for jokes.
Facts about Eastern Europe
- The smallest army of all Eastern European states belongs to Slovakia. Only 14 thousand people serve in the regular troops here.
- Russia also belongs to Eastern Europe, at least in part. Although 77% of the country’s territory still lies in Asia.
- It is in Eastern Europe that the two longest European rivers flow – the Volga and the Danube (interesting facts about the Volga River).
- Hungary is the only Eastern European state whose natives have already received Nobel Prizes in all existing categories, except for one – the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Eastern Europe is larger than the area of North, West and South combined.
- The Eastern European city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is the only city in the world located on the border of two other countries, in this case, Austria and Hungary.
- The Republic of Belarus is the only European side where bison live in the wild.
- The Moldova River, after which the Republic of Moldova takes its name, actually flows through the territory of Romania.
- During the Cold War, Eastern Europe was called the Eastern Bloc.
- It is here that the only European republic is located, the predominant religion in which Buddhism is Kalmykia.
- During the construction of the National Library in Belarus, an additional tax was introduced, as the authorities did not have enough money to implement this large-scale project.
- Only about a third of the total European population lives in Eastern Europe.
- Its total area is 5 million square kilometers.
- Hungary, one of the countries of Eastern Europe, has the highest VAT in the world, equal to 27%.
- It was here, in Croatia, that the tie was invented.
- In the Eastern European, more precisely, Montenegrin city of Kotor is the narrowest street in the world, about 60 centimeters wide.
- The soil in Eastern Europe is almost twice as fertile as in Western.
- Moldova is the most wine-producing country in the world. About a quarter of the entire local population is somehow employed in this area (interesting facts about Moldova).
- The borders of Eastern Europe are very conditional, and, according to various sources, 10, 17 or 20 countries belong to it.
- In the city of Kherson, in Ukraine, it is legally forbidden for pets to meow, bark, and so on from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next day, so as not to disturb others. Hosts are responsible.
- Hryvnia, the Ukrainian currency, got its name in honor of the jewelry, which was made of gold or silver.
- Bulgaria, founded in 681, is the oldest of the European states.
- In Romania, in village called Sepyntsa, there is a unique attraction – a cemetery with brightly colored tombstones. This is how the locals honor their ancestors.
- Prague Castle, located, as you might guess, in the Czech Republic, in Prague, is the largest castle not only in Eastern Europe, but in the whole world (interesting facts about Prague).
- In Eastern European countries an even number in a bouquet means mourning. But in Western Europe it is the opposite, and in North America too.
- Eastern Europeans sign their spines from the bottom up, like us, unlike their Western neighbors, who sign them from the top down.
- Zelyonka is still used as a medicine only in Eastern Europe.
- Most of the population of Eastern Europe are ethnic Slavs.