Country Explorer

There are 195 widely recognised sovereign states — the 193 member states of the United Nations plus Vatican City and Palestine, which hold observer status. GeoQuest’s atlas also includes dependencies and territories, so you can explore well over 240 places in total.

Every country page brings together the capital city, population, land area, region and subregion, official languages, currencies, bordering countries, the national flag and the country’s location on the map — plus links to its cuisine, flag meaning and natural landmarks where available.

Russia is the largest country by land area at about 17.1 million square kilometres, while Vatican City is the smallest at roughly 0.49 square kilometres — small enough to walk across in minutes.

India is now the most populous country with more than 1.4 billion people, having overtaken China. Together the two account for well over a third of all the people on Earth.

A sovereign country governs itself and is recognised internationally, whereas a territory or dependency is linked to another state that handles some of its affairs — for example defence or foreign policy. GeoQuest lets you explore both.