The country without a single river has more of them than one might think. In a world that is divided into almost 200 countries, natural resources are not distributed "in solidarity". And in a world where there is more and more talk about water scarcity, some countries are completely deprived of something that is often taken for granted: rivers.

While Russia has thousands of rivers, a large and rich country has none. However, there are more countries without a single river than you think, about 15, and those are some of them. 

1. Libya: rivers come and go

The North African desert country does not have a single permanent river. They can say that they have one river, but this river is called “A great man-made river”. It is a huge system of pipes that irrigate the country lengthwise and crosswise and make up 70 percent of Libya's drinking water sources. Some consider it the largest in the world, and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called it a wonder of the world. What it is, it is - the undertaking is impressive.

2. Bahrain: stable zero

The island Kingdom of Bahrain, just like Libya, has no permanent rivers. Moreover, data for the period between 1972 and 2017 indicate that the surface liquid level has remained stable: "about zero billion cubic meters per year".

3. Saudi Arabia: Desalination as a solution?

It is to be assumed that the countries that lack water are desert countries, so it is not surprising that the countries of the Arabian Peninsula are on the list. But what is surprising is that such a large country, which covers an area of 2,150,000 square kilometers, does not have a single river - and yet provides water for 34,000,000 inhabitants.

Almost half of the drinking water comes from the desalination of the sea or brackish water. Many wonders if this is the solution for the future of a world where we are increasingly talking about water scarcity.

4. The Vatican: the smallest country in the world without a river

The Vatican doesn’t have a river, but it is about 400 meters away from the Italian river the Tiber. The Tiber is increasingly the subject of public debates due to water pollution, so maybe the Vatican is not unhappy that it does not have a river. You lose something, you gain something. 

5. Malta: The naked pearl of the Mediterranean

Along with the Vatican and Monaco, which are so small that the fact that they do not have a river is not very shocking, Malta is the third and last European country that does not have a single river. Moreover, there is no (permanent) lake.