World Bee Day 2026
We've documented honey from 115 countries — the world's most extensive honey atlas. Here's the countdown, the atlas, and the most extraordinary honey stories on Earth.
Until World Bee Day · May 20, 2026
What Is World Bee Day?
World Bee Day is observed every May 20 — a date chosen to honor Anton Janša, the 18th-century Slovenian beekeeper born on this day in 1734, who wrote the first systematic treatise on bee behavior in modern Europe. The United Nations officially designated May 20 as World Bee Day in December 2017, following Slovenia's proposal. The observance has since grown into a global movement for pollinator conservation, food security awareness, and beekeeping culture.
The FAO estimates that pollinators contribute between $235 billion and $577 billion annually to global food production. Roughly one-third of the food on your plate depends on pollination. Yet most people have never met a beekeeper, don't know where their honey comes from, and have never tasted the difference between a generic blend and a single-origin varietal.
That's the gap this site exists to close — starting with 115 country guides, 300+ varieties, and the most detailed honey atlas on the open web.
Read the full World Bee Day guideOur Honey Atlas: 115 Countries
We've spent the past year building what we believe is the world's most detailed open honey atlas — a country-by-country guide to varieties, traditions, bee subspecies, regulatory frameworks, and the specific stories that make each country's honey impossible to replicate anywhere else.
10 of the World's Most Extraordinary Honeys
These are the honey stories that stopped us mid-research — the ones that made us realize how much we don't know about what bees make.
The world's only widely-documented natural psychoactive honey. Harvested by Gurung cliff hunters above 2,500 m from wild Apis dorsata laboriosa combs. Grayanotoxin from Rhododendron blossom causes 30–60 min hallucinogenic effects. Sold for $50–180 per 250 g for authenticated spring harvest.
Read the full guideThe only known natural food source of trehalulose at dietary-relevant levels (Fletcher et al. 2020). Trehalulose is a rare disaccharide with a glycemic index of 32 — half that of sucrose — discovered in kelulut honey by chance during a 2020 metabolomics screen.
Read the full guideMore people die collecting this honey each year than any other honey on Earth. Licensed Mouali hunters enter UNESCO World Heritage tidal mangroves in active Bengal tiger territory to harvest Apis dorsata combs in forest canopies. Each harvest requires government permits, traditional offerings to the forest goddess Banarbibi, and a partner watching for tigers.
Read the full guideThe world's most expensive commercially-available honey at $250–500+ per kilogram — driven by Quranic reference, Ziziphus spina-christi floral specificity, and one of the narrowest authenticated harvest windows in global honey production. Adulteration rate on supermarket-labeled "sidr" exceeds 70%.
Read the full guideThe Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE) is one of the world's oldest medical texts — and it references heglig honey (Balanites aegyptiaca). Sudan's zir clay pot beehives trace back to Abu Ghurab reliefs c. 2400 BCE, making this one of the longest continuously documented apicultural traditions on Earth. Yet zero published melissopalynology exists for heglig honey.
Read the full guideQueen Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Punt in 1470 BCE — recorded on the temple walls of Deir el-Bahari — listed honey among its cargo. Modern archaeologists place Punt in the Somali highlands: the world's oldest documented international honey trade. Boswellia frereana, the finest frankincense tree, is endemic to Somalia alone. Its honey has never been scientifically characterized.
Read the full guideThe Greater Caucasus mountains are the native homeland of Apis mellifera caucasica — the Caucasian grey bee, with the longest tongue of any Apis mellifera subspecies (6.4–7.0 mm). During the Soviet period, A.m. caucasica queens were exported to beekeeping programs on six continents. The Sheki-Zagatala foothills where this bee's tongue-length advantage was first documented produce şahdil balı — "heart of the king honey" — from Onobrychis sainfoin.
Read the full guideArgentina is the world's second-largest honey exporter by volume. An estimated 90–95% of its production disappears into anonymous EU blends labeled "blend of EU and non-EU honeys." The country produces distinctive espinillo (Acacia caven) and Patagonian wildflower honey recognized by Argentine experts — none of which reaches international shelves with Argentine identity intact.
Read the full guideKenyan beekeeper Dr. Lucy King invented the beehive fence in 2009: log hives strung together on wire around farm perimeters. Elephants approaching the hives disturb them, releasing bees and an alarm pheromone that drives the herd away. The honey harvested from these conflict-prevention hives now retails as "Elephants & Bees" honey in specialty stores — possibly the world's only honey with a direct conservation ROI metric. The system has been deployed in 17 African countries.
Read the full guideXunan Kab (Melipona beecheii) — the "royal lady bee" in Yucatec Maya — has been managed by Maya beekeepers for over 3,000 years. The Madrid Codex, a pre-Columbian Maya manuscript, contains the oldest documented meliponiculture records in the Americas. Each colony produces only 1–3 liters of honey per year (vs. 20–80 kg for Apis mellifera), sold for $40–120/250 ml. The tradition is classified as endangered due to deforestation and agricultural intensification.
Read the full guideHoney from the World's Most Difficult Places
One of the patterns we found across 115 country guides: bees don't stop working during wars, embargoes, or political isolation. Some of the world's most distinctive honeys come from places global commerce has forgotten — or deliberately excluded.
World's most expensive honey produced amid active civil war. Export corridors have shifted; authenticated Wadi Doan sidr is increasingly difficult to source.
23 years of US sanctions created the branding vacuum Yemen filled first. Same Ziziphus spina-christi tree, same A.m. jemenitica bee — 20× price difference.
Boswellia frankincense highlands produce honey with a flavor profile found nowhere else. Zero international market exists. Somaliland emerging sector has no authentication infrastructure.
400,000 beekeepers — second-highest density in Europe. The EU's emergency import quotas created a tariff controversy with Polish and Romanian beekeepers while Ukrainian apiaries operated under active shelling in eastern regions.
The US embargo means marabú honey — a European specialty honey selling in German supermarkets — is legally unavailable to most Americans. The same embargo created inadvertent organic certification by eliminating access to synthetic inputs.
30 years of liberation war followed by post-independence isolation. The same bee as Yemen's $300/kg sidr honey — A.m. jemenitica — was genetically isolated for 60 years. Eritrea may hold the most intact A.m. jemenitica reference population in the subspecies' range.
Tony Rinaudo's FMNR (farmer-managed natural regeneration) planted 200 million trees in Niger from 1983 onward. The honey from Faidherbia albida — the "backwards tree" that leafs in the dry season — has never been scientifically characterized.
How to Celebrate on May 20
Try a single-origin varietal you've never had — buckwheat, sourwood, or a genuine import like Greek thyme or Turkish anzer.
Browse 300+ varieties →Even a window box of lavender, borage, or catmint provides forage for native bees in your neighborhood.
Bee-friendly plant guide →Our directory lists 1,500+ local honey sources. Buying direct on May 20 is the most direct support a beekeeper can receive.
Find honey near you →Botanical gardens, extension programs, and beekeeping associations often hold World Bee Day tastings and demonstrations.
Browse honey events →Pick a country you've never thought about for honey. Read its guide. You'll be surprised.
Open the honey atlas →There are more than 20,000 bee species on Earth. Most are solitary. Most don't sting. Most people have never heard of them.
Read the full guide →World Bee Day FAQs
When is World Bee Day 2026?
World Bee Day 2026 is Wednesday, May 20, 2026. It is observed every year on May 20 — the birthday of Anton Janša (1734), the pioneering Slovenian beekeeper who helped establish modern apiary management. The UN officially designated May 20 as World Bee Day in December 2017, following Slovenia's proposal.
How many bee species exist in the world?
There are more than 20,000 known bee species worldwide, documented by researchers including Cornell's Dr. Bryan Danforth. Most are solitary — they do not form hives, do not produce honey, and rarely sting. Honey bees (Apis mellifera and related species) account for only about 8 species in the genus. Bumblebees (Bombus) include roughly 250 species. The majority of native bee diversity consists of ground-nesting or cavity-nesting solitary bees.
What percentage of the world's food depends on bees?
The FAO estimates that approximately one-third of the global food supply depends on pollination by bees and other pollinators. More precisely, 75% of the world's food crops depend at least partly on animal pollination. In the US alone, managed honey bee pollination services contribute an estimated $15–20 billion to agricultural output annually (USDA). Without pollination, yields of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and oilseeds would collapse.
Which country produces the most honey in the world?
China is by far the world's largest honey producer, accounting for approximately 25–30% of global production — around 400,000–500,000 metric tonnes per year (FAO). The top 5 producers are China, Turkey, Argentina, Iran, and the United States. However, production volume does not correlate with quality or botanical diversity — Yemen produces a tiny fraction of China's volume but commands the world's highest retail prices for authenticated sidr honey.
What is the rarest honey in the world?
There is no single answer — rarity takes different forms. Yemeni Wadi Doan Sidr ($250–500+/kg) is the most expensive by price. Nepalese mad honey (Pagal Mauri) from wild Apis dorsata laboriosa combs is the rarest psychoactive food. Tasmanian leatherwood honey is the only honey in the world from a Gondwana rainforest relict species. Malaysian kelulut honey is the only known natural food source of trehalulose. Moroccan euphorbia honey is the world's only known Euphorbia monofloral. Each represents a unique form of botanical and geographic scarcity.
How can I find local raw honey to celebrate World Bee Day?
Our directory lists over 1,500 local honey sources across the United States — beekeepers, apiaries, farmers markets, and farm stores. Search by city or state to find raw honey producers near you. Buying local on May 20 is the most direct way to support managed bee populations: when beekeepers receive fair prices, they can afford quality mite management, equipment, and colony care.
Raw Honey Guide Editorial Team
Reviewed by certified beekeepers and apiculture specialists. Our editorial team consults with professional beekeepers, food scientists, and registered dietitians to ensure accuracy. Health claims are cited against peer-reviewed literature from Cochrane, JAFC, BMJ, and Nutrients.