Interactive World Map

This interactive world map shows all 193 member states of the United Nations on one zoomable map that works in any browser, on a desktop or a phone. Tap a country to see its flag, capital, continent, population, area, official languages and currency, with the source for every figure listed on the card.

How to use the map

• Pan and zoom: drag the map to move it. Pinch on a touch screen, scroll with a mouse wheel or press the + and − buttons to zoom. FIT brings back the whole world.
• Open a fact card: tap or click any country. Island nations that are too small to see at world scale, such as Tuvalu, Malta or the Maldives, are marked with small circles you can tap instead.
• Search: type a country, a capital or a common other name (Czechia, Burma, Côte d’Ivoire, UK) into the search box and pick a result. The map flies to that country and opens its card.
• Today in geography: the card opens on a spotlight country that changes every day, stepping through all 193 countries before any repeats. Random country picks one for you at any time.

Labels and color modes

The Labels buttons switch four layers on and off: country names, capitals (shown as dots with names), continents and oceans. Labels never overlap, so more names appear as you zoom in.

The Color buttons shade the map three ways:

• Continent: Africa (54 countries), Asia (47), Europe (43), North America (23, including Central America and the Caribbean), Oceania (14) and South America (12).
• Population: seven bands from under 1 million to over 100 million people.
• Area: seven bands from under 10,000 km² to over 3 million km².

The legend under the map shows each band, how many countries fall in it, and where the numbers come from. Territories and places that are not UN members, such as Greenland, Western Sahara, Taiwan, Kosovo and Palestine, are drawn in gray. Tapping one shows its name but no fact card.

Where the facts come from

Every value on a card was taken from the English Wikipedia, and the card links to the exact page revision that was used:

• Population: the United Nations World Population Prospects 2024 estimate for 1 July 2023, as tabulated in Wikipedia’s list of countries by population (United Nations). Special cases are noted on the card, such as France (metropolitan France only).
• Area: total area including inland water, from Wikipedia’s list of countries and dependencies by area.
• Continent and region: the UN geoscheme region and subregion listed alongside the UN population figures. That is why Cyprus appears under Asia (Western Asia) and Russia under Europe (Eastern Europe).
• Capital: Wikipedia’s list of national capitals, checked against each country’s infobox. Countries with more than one capital show all of them, such as Bolivia (Sucre and La Paz), South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam and The Hague).
• Languages and currency: each country’s own Wikipedia infobox. Some countries have no official language at the national level, so the card shows the national language instead, as for the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia.

The borders come from Natural Earth, a public domain map dataset, simplified so the map stays fast on a phone. Flags are simplified drawings.

Tips for learning the world map

• Start with one continent. Zoom into it, turn on capitals and tap your way across it from one side to the other.
• Use the color modes as a quiz. Switch to population and guess which countries are in the top band before you read the legend.
• Follow the daily spotlight. One new country a day adds up to the whole world in a little over six months.
• Check yourself. When a region feels familiar, play the Map Quiz to find countries on a blank map, or the Flag Quiz to match flags and capitals.

FAQ

How many countries are on the map?

All 193 UN member states. Each one can be tapped and has a fact card. Non-member territories and places with disputed status are drawn in gray without a card.

Why does the population differ from other sites?

Countries publish census figures in different years, so this map uses one source for everyone: the UN estimate for 1 July 2023. That keeps the population colors comparable, but it may differ from a newer national estimate.

Is my data saved?

Your color mode, label choices and the last ten countries you opened are saved in your browser, so the map looks the same next time. Nothing is sent anywhere.

For more ways to practice, see our list of the best browser games to learn geography.