Learn Hardcore Chinese: zài zhè gè guójiā, hěnduō chéngshì dōu yǒu ānjìng de gōngyuán. - In this country, many cities all have quiet parks.

Breakdown of zài zhè gè guójiā, hěnduō chéngshì dōu yǒu ānjìng de gōngyuán.

Used when counting nouns or when specifying a specific instance of a noun.

There are also classifiers for people, for bound items such as books and magazines, for cups/glasses, etc.

The classifier 个 is a general one that can be used for any of these.

Why does the sentence start with 在这个国家 instead of putting the location later, like in English “In this country, …”? Is this a special structure?

Putting 在这个国家 at the beginning is very natural in Chinese and matches the English “In this country, …”.

Grammatically, this is a location phrase used as a topic:

在这个国家，很多城市都有安静的公园。
Literally: As for in this country, many cities all have quiet parks.

Chinese often uses “topic–comment” order:

You could also say:

这个国家里，很多城市都有安静的公园。
Or (more neutral, less “topicky”): 在这个国家很多城市都有安静的公园。 (often still with a slight pause after 国家 when spoken)

All are grammatical; the original just emphasizes the country as the overall setting.

Why do we need 个 in 这个国家? Why not just 这国家?

In modern standard Mandarin, 这 / 那 (this / that) are almost always followed by a measure word (classifier) before a noun:

So:

这个国家 ✔️ natural
这国家 ❌ sounds dialectal / old-fashioned / literary, not standard spoken Mandarin

There are a few set expressions without a measure word (like 这些人, 那时, 这事儿), but with 国家, the default is to use 个: