Countries of the World Quiz — Rules & What Counts
Can you name all 197 countries of the world? This is TRIVI.GG's flagship geography quiz: a full interactive world map that fills in country by country as you type.
The magic number is 197 — the 193 UN member states, the two UN observer states (Vatican City and Palestine), plus Taiwan and Kosovo. Every serious world quiz has to make a call on those last two, and we count them: both function as independent states with their own governments, even though their recognition is contested.
Most players land somewhere between 60 and 100 on a first run. The Caribbean, the Pacific, and Central Africa are where full completions usually go to die.
How to play
- Just start typing — no need to click the input first. Every correct country lights up on the map the moment you finish typing it.
- Spelling is forgiving, and common alternate names are accepted — Burma works for Myanmar, and Holland works for the Netherlands.
- Tiny states like Monaco or Tuvalu appear as small circles on the map so they stay findable at world scale.
- The clock counts up; finish faster to climb the leaderboard. Give up at any time to reveal what you missed.
- Want a different challenge on the same map? Extra modes cover clicking countries we name, flags, capitals, landlocked countries, and more.
What counts in this quiz
- All 193 member states of the United Nations.
- The two UN observer states: Vatican City and Palestine.
- Taiwan — self-governing since 1949 with its own government, military, and currency; a de facto independent state even though its UN seat passed to the People's Republic of China in 1971.
- Kosovo — declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by roughly half the world's countries, including the US and most of the EU.
- Total: 197 countries across six continents.
What's not included — and why
- Territories and dependencies — Greenland belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, Puerto Rico is a US territory, and Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, so none of them are answers.
- Constituent countries — Curaçao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and England, Scotland, and Wales are parts of the United Kingdom, not sovereign states. Typing England or Scotland is credited to the United Kingdom.
- Unrecognized claimants beyond Taiwan and Kosovo — places like Somaliland or Transnistria lack broad international recognition, so they are not counted.
Good to know
- Vatican City is the smallest country in the world at about 0.44 square kilometers — the entire nation is smaller than many golf courses.
- South Sudan is the newest widely recognized country, gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
- Kiribati is the only country that sits in all four hemispheres — it straddles both the equator and the 180th meridian.