Mapology
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Interactive world map explorer

Tap a country to read its capital, population, area and flag. Filter by continent, or search for a country or capital.

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Equal Earth projection · Natural Earth 1:50m197 countries

Explore the rest of the atlas

Interactive US mapTap any of the 50 states for its capital, population, size and neighbours.Geography quizzesClick-the-map quizzes for US states, capitals, flags and every continent.Distance calculatorGreat-circle distance, flight time and bearing between any two cities.True size of countriesDrag a country toward the poles and watch Mercator inflate it.

Reading a world map honestly

Every flat map distorts the round Earth somehow. The familiar classroom wall map is usually Mercator, built in 1569 for sailors because it keeps compass bearings straight. The price is size: Greenland looks as big as Africa on Mercator, but Africa is about 14 times larger.

This explorer uses Equal Earth, an equal-area projection, so the land you see is in proportion. Compare for yourself on the map projections page, or drag countries around on the true size map.

Quick world facts

  • Largest country: Russia, 17,098,242 km², about 11% of Earth's land.
  • Smallest country: Vatican City, 0.44 km².
  • Most populous: India (about 1.42 billion), just ahead of China.
  • Countries on the 6 inhabited continents: Africa 54, Asia 48, Europe 46.

Browse the full list of countries →

Frequently asked questions

How many countries are there in the world?

There are 195 countries by the most common count: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus the two UN observer states, Vatican City and Palestine. Mapology lists 197, adding Kosovo and Taiwan, which are recognised by many but not all countries. See how the count changes by definition.

Which map projection does this world map use?

The explorer uses the Equal Earth projection (Šavrič, Patterson and Jenny, 2018). Unlike Mercator it keeps every country at its true relative size, so Africa looks as large as it really is compared with Greenland.

Where does the country data come from?

Borders come from Natural Earth (1:50m). Capitals, areas, languages and currencies come from the open mledoze/countries dataset, population estimates from the countries-states-cities database, and city locations from GeoNames.

Can I use Mapology in a classroom?

Yes. Every map, quiz and table is free, works without an account and runs in a phone or classroom browser. Quizzes have a projector-friendly layout and keep your best scores only in your own browser.