13 Facts About Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, with the last murder occurring around 1997 and the prison housing very few inmates.

Switzerland unintentionally invaded Liechtenstein in March 2007, when approximately 170 Swiss infantry soldiers wandered across the unmarked border for more than a mile before realising their error.

On Liechtenstein's national holiday, the head of state, His Serene Highness Prince Hans-Adam II, and his son, His Serene Highness Hereditary Prince Alois, invite residents to a beer in the garden of Vaduz Castle, the princely ancestral residence.

Although German is the official language of the country, the majority of residents speak an Alemannic dialect that is very different from standard German and more similar to Swiss Standard German. As a result, its citizens usually refer to the country as Liachtaschta rather than Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein's capital city, Vaduz, has a population of around 5,425, but its largest city is the mostly unknown town of Schaan, which barely beats Vaduz by 583 people.

Ivoclar Vivadent, based in the mini-metropolis of Schaan, leads the world in false teeth manufacturing, accounting for 20% of total global sales. Thanks to a strong relationship with Bollywood dentists, the company is responsible for the production of 60 million sets per year in over 10,000 different models.

In 2011, the entire country of Liechtenstein could be rented for $70,000 per night. The scheme, devised by Airbnb and Liechtenstein-based marketing firm Rent a Village by Xnet, included 150-person accommodation, customised street signs, a symbolic key to the state, a wine tasting with Prince Hans-Adam II, and your own temporary currency. Nobody appears to have taken them up on the offer, though rapper Snoop Dogg apparently made an attempt in 2010 before the official scheme was launched, hoping to film a video there.

"Oben am jungen Rhein," Liechtenstein's national anthem, is sung to the same melody as "God Save the Queen," so the same tune was played twice in a row when Northern Ireland and Liechtenstein competed for a UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Euro 2004 qualifier game. (To be fair, "My Country, Tis of Thee" is also sung to that tune, but it is not the official anthem of the United States.)

In the years following World War II, Czechoslovakia—which later split into two separate countries—confiscated property belonging to Liechtenstein's royal family, claiming it belonged to the defeated Germany. The seized land—ten times the size of Liechtenstein's current borders—was mostly forest and agricultural land in Moravia, as well as a few family palaces and their associated land parcels.

Both of Liechtenstein's neighbours, Austria to the north and east and Switzerland to the south and west, are landlocked. Uzbekistan is the only other country in this category.

Mowing lawns or holding "noisy festivities" during the country's official lunch break, which runs from noon to 1:30 p.m., is strongly discouraged in a pamphlet aimed at new immigrants. After 10 p.m., the same rules apply.

Liechtenstein was originally purchased for its political value by the princes of Liechtenstein (the principality was named after their surname). The princes purchased what is now known as Liechtenstein because it was the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, and owning it allowed them to gain a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet in Vienna, increasing their power. This strategy worked well, but none of the princes bothered to visit until a century later, when the area was declared a principality in 1806. The next princely visit would be decades away. The current prince's father, Franz Josef II, was the first prince of Liechtenstein to live in Liechtenstein proper, moving there in 1938.

Following the failure of three previous referendums, Liechtensteinerinnen (female Liechtenstein residents) were granted the right to vote in national elections in 1984. Obviously, only male voters participated in the referendum, which passed by a slim margin of 51.3%. Despite this, women were not allowed to vote in local elections until 1986.