Last week we covered the facts about doing business in Andorra. Today we come back again to talk abut the facts about Andorra!
10. 1000 year peace
Andorra has never been an active combatant in any war for the last 1000 years. The last war the Andorrans were actively was an active combatant was Charlemagne’s wars with the Moors.
However, this does not mean that Andorra has been free from war entirely. In fact, the most recent war Andorra was involved in was WWI, where they declared war on Germany, although never actively fought against them!
Hilariously, Andorra was technically still at war with Germany until 1958 when they signed a peace treaty! (Andorra had been left out of the Treaty of Versailles due to the fact that they had not actively fought in the war!)
9. Andorran Pareage
Andorra is famous for being a pareage. Essentially, a pareage is just a fancy way of saying ‘co-principality’. That is to say that they are ruled by two princes.
However, they are not ruled by princes from an old European noble house, no. In fact, their princes can change every five years! The princes are the Bishop of Urgell (in Catalonia) and the Head of the French government (the President!)
In fact, Andorra is the only country ever to be a pareage!
8. Melting Pot of cultures
Only one in three people in Andorra were actually born in Andorra. Most of Andorra’s citizens come from Spain, France or Portugal, with a small minority of British and Americans!
As such, Andorra has one of the most diverse cultures on the entire planet! Andorran culture is a rich blend between Andorran/Catalan culture, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Anglophonic cultures!
As such, most Andorrans are polyglots in their own rights, often speaking three, four or even five languages! Most Andorrans tend to speak French, Catalan and Spanish due to the high presence of these languages in the Andorran media!
7. Low citizenship rate
Probably one of the most interesting facts about Andorra (in my opinion anyway!) is the fact that there citizenship rate is one of the lowest in the world! This isn’t because they have astronomically high expectations for citizens, or an incredibly difficult citizenship test like the Swiss do!
It’s simply due to the fact that there are so many foreigners! Most foreigners have their own nation’s passport, and its easy to access the same privileges that an Andorran has, with another EU passport.
As a result, many foreigners don’t bother trying to get another passport!
6. A country with no airport
For a European country, this was one of the most shocking facts about Andorra indeed! Andorra has no airport! Andorra joins other micronations who don’t have an airport, such as:
- Monaco
- San Marino
- Vatican City
- Liechtenstein
- Palestine (although not widely recognised as a country!)
This is mostly due to the mostly mountainous terrain which would make having an airport almost impossible! As such, those visiting Andorra can come through other airports in Spain (Barcelona El Prat airport and Girona Airport) and France (Toulouse-Blagnac Airport)!
Although, surprisingly there are three private heliports, including a specialist medical heliport. A fourth is planned for some time in the 2020’s which is still in the planning phase as of the time of writing.
5. Firearms
Despite the fact that Andorra still relies on both the Spanish and the French for defense (and having no formal army either!) Andorra still expects foreign invaders!
As such, the Andorran constitution states that the oldest non-disabled male needs to have a firearm in case of emergency or attack.
With such high levels of gun ownership, one would think that Andorra would have a hard time with high levels of gun violence. Except, Andorra has none of that! Andorrans are taught from an early age to respect the power of a firearm and that they aren’t toys!
4. Safety record
But it’s not just their low levels of gun crime that surprised even me! All crimes in Andorra are virtually nil. Auto crimes, muggings, pickpocketing and other crimes rarely happen, and when they do, it is swiftly dealt with.
And this isn’t because of other extra-normal factors or a large police force or even a particularly good prison system. It’s how they police! They only have 240 regular police officers, who regularly visit schools and offices.
They don’t come in and tell you what will happen if you try to become a criminal. They don’t come in to mock arrest people either!
They act more like mentors and less like people who want to throw you in prison. And most officers aren’t even armed as is common in most countries worldwide. Although there is an armed division of the Andorran police force too!
3. Frano-Spanish relations
Andorra attempts to be as self-reliant as possible. However, Andorra recognises that it needs to have help from its neighbours!
As mentioned earlier, the defense of Andorra is down to a combined effort from both France and Spain. However that is not the only defense that is down to both of Andorra’s neighbours.
Andorra’s biggest trading partners are France and Spain. Many Andorran companies have bank accounts in all three countries, and many French companies in Occitanie and Catalonian companies have bank accounts in Andorra too!
2. A high capital
Although not the highest in the world (that honour goes to La Paz!) Andorra’s capital city, Andorra La Vella is the highest capital in Europe (in front of both Spain and Armenia!)
For me, this is probably one of the weirdest (and most useless!) facts about Andorra! Not because I don’t believe that it’s impossible, but because I am simply surpised!
Although, it does make sense, as Andorra is mostly made up of mountains and lakes, which are naturally at a high altitude. As such, it makes sense that Andorra La Vella is one of the highest capitals in the world (at 28th globally!) and the highest in Europe!
1. No central bank
This is one of the more shocking facts about Andorra for me. The fact that Andorra has no central bank!
Most countries throughout the world, both rich and poor tend to have a central bank to regulate the economy. For the US, it’s the Federal Reserve and for the UK it’s the Bank of England.
The fact that the Andorrans feel as though they don’t need a central bank (even though they have strong banking system!) speaks bounds about their economy- it doesn’t need to be regulated!
Got any more facts about Andorra? Tell me in the comments! Remember, if you are looking to do business in Andorra, our translation services are world class!