Borders and Names Policy

A map quiz has to take positions that atlases argue about: what counts as a country, what a place is called and where a border runs. These are the rules every quiz, printable map and worksheet on Geography Quiz Lab follows, so the answers are the same everywhere on the site.

None of this is a political statement. It is the most widely used reference point we could find, written down so you can see it and tell us if we have applied it wrongly.

What counts as a country

A country here is one of the 193 member states of the United Nations or one of its 2 non-member observer states, Vatican City (the Holy See) and Palestine. That makes 195, the number in our world quizzes. Membership is taken from the United Nations' own list, and our build refuses to run if our list and theirs disagree.

Other territories

Some places are self-governing, widely recognised by some states and not others, or large enough that people expect to find them on a map. Five of them appear in our quizzes as an option called other territories, which is off by default: Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara, Greenland and Puerto Rico. Switch it on and they are asked like any other place; leave it off and they are drawn as grey land you can see but not click.

Other dependencies, such as French Guiana, New Caledonia or the Falkland Islands, are drawn as grey land and are not asked. Where a dependency is legally part of a country, as French Guiana is part of France, clicking it on the world map counts as that country.

Names

We use the common English short name of each country, except where a country has asked to be called something new in English. Then we follow the new name and still accept the old one as an answer: Türkiye (Turkey), Czechia (Czech Republic), Eswatini (Swaziland), North Macedonia (Macedonia), Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), Timor-Leste (East Timor), Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Myanmar (Burma). Place names follow current official spellings, such as Kyiv.

In type-in quizzes, accents, capitals and punctuation never matter, and common alternatives are accepted. The full list of accepted names is part of the site's data and is checked by the same build that checks the facts.

Borders

Boundaries come from Natural Earth, a public domain map dataset, in its default view, which follows the line each place is actually governed up to. Areas controlled by a breakaway government, such as Somaliland and Northern Cyprus, are drawn as part of the internationally recognised state. The maps are simplified for the screen and are not suitable for legal, navigation or official use.

Capitals

Capitals come from the CIA World Factbook's final edition, published early in 2026, and are checked against Wikidata and Natural Earth. Where a country has more than one capital, every official one is accepted and the first is the one we show. Where the sources disagree, or a capital has changed since the Factbook closed, the decision and the reason are listed below. Palestine and Western Sahara are left out of capital questions because the answer is part of an unresolved dispute.

Reporting a mistake

If you think a name, capital, flag or border is wrong, tell us through the contact page with the page and the source you are relying on. We check every report against the sources on our sources page, and corrections go into the data that every quiz and printable is built from.

How each quiz region is defined

  • The world (195 + 5 optional): The 193 UN member states and the 2 UN observer states (Vatican City and Palestine).
  • Europe (49 + 1 optional): UN M49 Europe (44 countries including Vatican City) plus Cyprus, Türkiye, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which span Europe and Asia.
  • Africa (54 + 1 optional): UN M49 Africa: the 54 African UN member states.
  • Asia (48 + 1 optional): UN M49 Asia (47 UN member states) plus Palestine. Cyprus, Türkiye and the South Caucasus also appear in the Europe quiz.
  • South America (12): UN M49 South America: 12 countries. French Guiana is part of France and is shown but not asked.
  • Central America (7): The seven countries of the Central American isthmus (UN M49 Central America without Mexico, which the North America quiz covers).
  • The Caribbean (13 + 1 optional): UN M49 Caribbean: the 13 independent Caribbean countries. Puerto Rico is an optional territory.
  • North America (23 + 2 optional): UN M49 Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean: 23 countries.
  • Latin America (20 + 1 optional): The 20 countries of the Americas where Spanish, Portuguese or French is the main language (Belize, Guyana, Suriname and the English-speaking Caribbean are outside it).
  • The Middle East (17): The 17 countries usually grouped as the Middle East: the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Iraq, Iran, Türkiye, Cyprus and Egypt.
  • East and Southeast Asia (16 + 1 optional): UN M49 Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia: 16 countries.
  • Oceania (14): UN M49 Oceania: the 14 independent countries of Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
  • The United States (50 + 1 optional): The 50 states. Washington, D.C. is a federal district and is optional.

Renamed countries

  • Cabo Verde: also accepted, Cape Verde
  • Côte d'Ivoire: also accepted, Ivory Coast, Cote dIvoire
  • Czechia: also accepted, Czech Republic
  • Eswatini: also accepted, Swaziland
  • Myanmar: also accepted, Burma
  • North Macedonia: also accepted, Macedonia
  • Timor-Leste: also accepted, East Timor, Timor Leste
  • Türkiye: also accepted, Turkey, Turkiye

Capital notes

  • Benin: Porto-Novo is the official capital; the government sits in Cotonou.
  • Bolivia: Sucre is the constitutional capital; La Paz is the seat of government.
  • Burundi: Gitega became the political capital in 2019; Bujumbura is the largest city.
  • Chile: The national legislature sits in Valparaíso.
  • Côte d'Ivoire: Yamoussoukro is the official capital; most government offices and embassies are in Abidjan.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Decree-Law 1/2026 (January 2026) made Ciudad de la Paz, on the mainland, the capital in place of Malabo; the move is still under way, so Malabo is also accepted.
  • Eswatini: Mbabane is the administrative capital; Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital.
  • Indonesia: A new capital, Nusantara, is under construction; Jakarta remains the capital in law.
  • Israel: Israel's capital is Jerusalem; its status is disputed internationally and most embassies are in Tel Aviv.
  • Malaysia: Most federal government offices have moved to Putrajaya.
  • Myanmar: Nay Pyi Taw has been the capital since 2005; Yangon (Rangoon) is the largest city.
  • Nauru: Nauru has no official capital; government offices are in the Yaren District.
  • Netherlands: Amsterdam is the capital; the government and parliament sit in The Hague.
  • South Africa: South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial).
  • Sri Lanka: Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital; Colombo is the commercial capital and largest city.
  • Switzerland: Bern is the federal city, the seat of government; Swiss law names no formal capital.
  • Tanzania: Dodoma is the official capital; many offices remain in Dar es Salaam.
  • Palestine: Left out of capital quizzes: Palestine proclaims East Jerusalem as its capital, while its government sits in Ramallah, and the question is part of an unresolved dispute.
  • Western Sahara: No capital is listed: sovereignty over Western Sahara is unresolved.

Flag notes

  • Afghanistan: Wikidata lists the Taliban flag as current. We show the black, red and green tricolour, the flag the United Nations still uses for Afghanistan; the borders and names policy explains this.
  • Honduras: The Commons reference is the older navy version; Honduras adopted the turquoise shade by decree in 2022, which flag-icons shows.