# Most "homogeneous" country in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224 "2008-11-05T06:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/1 "2008-11-05T06:16:04Z")
So I posed a similar question in GQ recently, asking about the most _racially_ homogeneous society in the world, knowing that there was some gray area as to where a race ends and another begins. But, even that doesn’t get to my question. I’m trying to figure out what country in the world has the most homogeneous society (still vague, I know). For example, many African countries are probably quite racially homogeneous, but there are tribal/linguistic/traditional differences between the people’s of those countries. The criteria I can come up with would be a place where most of the people [ul] [li]look very similar[/li][li]practice the same or similar religion and traditions[/li][li]speak the same language[/li][/ul] If there is any other criteria I might have missed, feel free to debate that, or if the criteria I’ve presented is faulty in some way. My guess is still Korea. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/2 "2008-11-05T06:26:40Z")
Vatican City. Next? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/3 "2008-11-05T06:29:29Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Vatican City. > > Next? lol. I guess a criteria should be, oh say a million population? I dunno the population, but I’d say Finland would have around 20 million. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/4 "2008-11-05T06:34:11Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Vatican City. > > Next? Okay…let’s say, for the sake of debate, that the population is more than 500,000 people… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/5 "2008-11-05T06:37:52Z")
Iceland. Definitely not Greenland. But Iceland. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/6 "2008-11-05T06:40:10Z")
Hah, I was just about to say that, but the pop. is only 300,000 and a bit. How about, Solomon Islands? Why yes, I did just look at the wiki article for ‘List of countries by population’, and I am drunk, kind of you to notice. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/7 "2008-11-05T06:49:07Z")
I would guess Korea, also. Not just racially, but also for language and culture. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/8 "2008-11-05T06:55:04Z")
> [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](#): > > I would guess Korea, also. Not just racially, but also for language and culture. But not for religion. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/9 "2008-11-05T07:38:00Z")
My money is with North Korea. Wouldn’t Iceland be up there, too? ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/10 "2008-11-05T09:28:37Z")
> [@Corbomite](#): > > I dunno the population, but I’d say Finland would have around 20 million. Not quite, more like 5.3 million 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-homogeneous-country-in-the-world/471224/11 "2008-11-05T10:53:11Z")
Finland has Lapps and Swedes and Russians, which are of a different ethnicity, religion and language. Denmark used to be very homogenous, so much that it is often referred to as a tribe rather than a nation. Some have speculated that the Scandinavian welfare model is built on the very homogenous Scandinavian countries.