The world's driest country is in Africa and gets only 18mm of rain a year

The weather and rain are common talking points in the UK and when a sunny day arrives, it seems to be all that Brits can talk about. Heading south, however, the possibility of common rainfall, if any at all, becomes less and less.

While it may be hard to imagine for Brits, some countries, including many in Africa and the Middle East, see close to zero rainfall each year. Sometimes, nations can go years, if not decades, without seeing any rain at all, causing widespread hardship. This African country, which claims the title of the world’s driest country, receives so little rainfall each year it cannot even fill an average mug.

Egypt, in North Africa, has a hot desert climate. Almost the entire country is extremely dry, except on the northern Mediterranean coast, which receives rainfall in winter. Here, the cloudiest, rainiest places and in and around the cities of Alexandria and Rafah. 

Egypt receives between 20 and 200 millimetres of annual average precipitation along its narrow Mediterranean coast. However, south of Cairo, the average drops to nearly zero millimetres in the central and southern parts of the country. According to World Bank data, the country as a whole receives just 18 millimetres of rainfall a year. 

The duration of sunshine is high all over Egypt, ranging from a low of 3,300 hours along the northernmost parts to a high of over 4,000 hours in much of the rest of the country. 

Some mountainous areas in Sinai - the only part of the country located in Asia - such as the town of Saint Catherine,  have cooler night temperatures due to their high elevations. That being said, it rarely snows in the Sinai mountains.

It almost never snows in cities like Giza, Cairo and Alexandria. In December 2013, Cairo received snowfall overnight for the first time since 1899. 

Temperatures become sweltering in the summer months. The highest temperature recorded at Cairo International Airport was 47.8C in May and temperatures often reach 35C between May and August. It's no surprise, therefore, that most Brits choose to jet off to Egypt during the Easter break, to explore Cairo and view the iconic pyramids, before temperatures get too unbearable.

Even in winter, temperatures only drop to around 10C. 

To compare, Colombia in South America, the world’s wettest country, receives a staggering 3,240 millimetres of rain, according to the World Bank. 

Egypt has also been known to enter incredibly long periods of no rainfall, known as “megadroughts”. The universally agreed-upon longest drought in the country’s history is believed to have lasted from around 2,200 to 1,900 BC. This drought caused a significant decline in the Nile River's flow, potentially reaching a 200-year minimum. 

There is also evidence of a three-year drought around 1191 AD causing the deaths of one-third of the population. 

Libya is the world’s second-driest country, with 56 millimetres of rain per year, while Algeria and Mauritania also make the top 10, with 89 and 92 millimetres respectively. 

The other top spots are all claimed by Asian countries, mostly in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is the third-driest country, with 59 millimetres, followed by Qatar (74), the UAE (78) and Bahrain (83).