Hard Numbers: What Country Buys the Most US Flags?

11: The US is far from the only country that celebrates independence this time of year. There are no less than 11 other countries that do the same in the first ten days of July. In order, they are Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Belarus, Algeria, Cape Verde, Venezuela, Comoros, Malawi, the Solomon Islands, Argentina, South Sudan (the world's newest country!), and the Bahamas.

2: There are two countries in the world that have no official independence day or national day at all. They are the United Kingdom (the eventual cause of so many other independence days, of course) and Denmark, which wants you to know that they were "once brutal Vikings." Vikings don't get colonized!

335: The US may run a big trade deficit with the rest of the world, but the flag industry is doing its best to close the gap. In 2018 the US ran a trade surplus of 300 percent in cloth flags. Of the roughly $6.3 million worth of flags imported, almost all came from China. Meanwhile three quarters of the $21 million worth exported went south of the border to Mexico. Thanks to Jason at the US Census Bureau for helping us out with the data.

$1 billion: Boom, ra-ta-ta-ka, boom… BOOM! Americans spend more than a billion dollars on fireworks every year, according to the American Pyrotechnics association. most of which are used during the July 4 period. Ninety nine percent of them are imported from the USA's "strategic competitor" China.

Quiz Answer: Liberate yourself from a common misconception. The US actually declared independence on July 2^nd 1776. The Declaration text was approved on the 4^th but not signed until almost a month later, on August 2^nd. So if you're in the US, tell your boss Signal said you can take August 2^nd off, too.