I just came across a ranking of the oldest countries in the world, and honestly, it's pretty crazy. It turns out the oldest country in the world is Iran, dating back to 3200 B.C., followed closely by Egypt from 3100 B.C. I thought it would be different.

Things get even more interesting from there — Vietnam appears as the third oldest at 2879 B.C., then Armenia, North Korea, and China. India has 2000 B.C., and Georgia and Israel share the date of 1300 B.C. It's fascinating that the oldest country in the world, Iran, has nearly 5,000 years of documented history.

Of course, everything depends on how we define "government" and "state." These data are based on the earliest known forms of governance, so they may vary depending on the source. But when it comes to the official ranking of the oldest countries in the world, this list from World Population Review seems pretty solid. Did anyone else not know about this?