Tukuk-OSGeography — Where the World Is
Planetary records, population giants and a daily capital quiz
Geography is the study of where things are and why. Below: the planet's outright records, the current population giants, and a daily capital quiz built from real country data. For every country's full profile — flags, languages, borders and statistics — see the World Countries directory.
Planetary records
| Category | The record holder |
|---|---|
| Highest point | Mount Everest — 8,849 m above sea level (2020 joint China/Nepal survey). |
| Lowest land point | Shore of the Dead Sea — about −430 m, and falling ~1 m a year. |
| Deepest ocean | Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench — about 10,935 m. |
| Longest river (usually ranked first) | Nile — about 6,650 km (Amazon disputed as longest; definitely largest by water). |
| Largest river by flow | Amazon — about 209,000 m³/s, more than the next seven rivers combined. |
| Largest hot desert | Sahara — about 9.2 million km², nearly the size of the USA. |
| Largest country | Russia — 17.1 million km², 11% of the world's land area. |
| Smallest country | Vatican City — 0.44 km², about 800 citizens. |
| Most populous country | India overtook China in 2023 — about 1.44 billion (UN estimate). |
| Least populous UN member | Tuvalu — about 11,000 people. |
| Largest lake (by area) | Caspian Sea — 371,000 km², saline and landlocked; the "sea" that is really a lake. |
| Deepest lake | Lake Baikal — 1,642 m, holding ~20% of the world's unfrozen fresh water. |
| Wettest place | Mawsynram, India — about 11,871 mm of rain in an average year. |
| Driest place | Atacama Desert, Chile — some weather stations have never recorded rain. |
| Longest mountain range | The Andes — about 7,000 km along South America's spine. |
| Habitat at the top of the world | The Arctic Ocean ice shelf hosts bacteria, algae under ice and no permanent human residents; Antarctica has research stations only, ~1,000–5,000 people seasonally. |
The ten-biggest, right now
Live from the same United Nations / World Bank figures the country directory uses — population, land area and capital.
| # | Country | Population | Area (km²) | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 1,463,865,525 | 3,287,590 | New Delhi |
| 2 | China | 1,406,585,000 | 9,706,961 | Beijing |
| 3 | United States | 341,784,857 | 9,372,610 | Washington D.C. |
| 4 | Indonesia | 285,721,236 | 1,904,569 | Jakarta |
| 5 | Pakistan | 255,219,554 | 881,912 | Islamabad |
| 6 | Nigeria | 237,527,782 | 923,768 | Abuja |
| 7 | Brazil | 212,812,405 | 8,515,767 | Brasília |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 175,686,899 | 147,570 | Dhaka |
| 9 | Russia | 143,513,328 | 17,098,242 | Moscow |
| 10 | Ethiopia | 135,472,051 | 1,104,300 | Addis Ababa |
| 11 | Mexico | 131,946,900 | 1,964,375 | Mexico City |
| 12 | Japan | 123,366,734 | 377,930 | Tokyo |
Capital quiz of the day
Eight countries, four choices each — the same eight for everyone today. Click a capital to check yourself; the score updates as you go.
Gambia — what is its capital?
Ireland — what is its capital?
New Zealand — what is its capital?
Netherlands — what is its capital?
Tuvalu — what is its capital?
Bulgaria — what is its capital?
Chad — what is its capital?
Grenada — what is its capital?