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249 Countries of the World according to ISO

According to ISO 'Country codes' standard, there are 249 countries in the world (194 of them independent).
Can you name them all?
The list of countries is taken from ISO 3166-1: Country codes.
Only correct English spellings/variations/abbreviations are accepted! (As seen on each individual country's English Wikipedia article.)
You can omit 'the' and 'and', but not 'island(s)', where these words are part of the country name.
The quiz with the capitals is here.
Quiz by yuzhuk
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Last updated: September 6, 2022
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First submittedMay 22, 2017
Times taken7,650
Average score65.5%
Rating4.10
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Europe
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City
Asia
Afghanistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
China
Cyprus
Georgia
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Africa
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Côte d'Ivoire
DR Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Republic of the Congo
Rwanda
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
North America
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
 
South America
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
 
Oceania
Australia
Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Nauru
New Zealand
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
Not independent according to ISO
Europe
UK
Gibraltar
Finland
Åland Islands
Denmark
Faroe Islands
UK
Guernsey
UK
Isle of Man
UK
Jersey
Norway
Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Asia
UK
British Indian Ocean Territory
Australia
Christmas Island
Australia
Cocos Islands
China
Hong Kong
China
Macao
Disputed
Palestine
Disputed
Taiwan
Africa
France
French Southern Territories
France
Mayotte
France
Réunion
UK
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Disputed
Western Sahara
North America
UK
Anguilla
Netherlands
Aruba
UK
Bermuda
Netherlands
Caribbean Netherlands
Netherlands
Curaçao
UK
Cayman Islands
Denmark
Greenland
France
Guadeloupe
France
Martinique
UK
Montserrat
USA
Puerto Rico
France
Saint Barthélemy
France
Saint Martin
France
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Netherlands
Sint Maarten
UK
Turks and Caicos Islands
USA
U.S. Virgin Islands
UK
Virgin Islands
South America
UK
Falkland Islands
France
French Guiana
Oceania
USA
American Samoa
New Zealand
Cook Islands
France
French Polynesia
USA
Guam
France
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Niue
Australia
Norfolk Island
USA
Northern Mariana Islands
UK
Pitcairn Islands
New Zealand
Tokelau
USA
United States Minor Outlying Islands
France
Wallis and Futuna
Antarctica
Condominium
Antarctica
Norway
Bouvet Island
Australia
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
UK
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
43 Comments
+4
Level 76
May 23, 2017
In this quiz you have 194 as "independent" - Kosovo has not been assigned an ISO code and is therefore missing from this quiz, and you list Taiwan as "not independent".
+2
Level 57
May 23, 2017
Yep, thanks for spotting that. Fixed the description. I counted them before finding and correcting two mistakes in Wikipedia article. (For some reason Cayman and Bermuda were listed as independent there.)
+8
Level 63
Jun 2, 2017
Maybe accept St Kitts as a type-in? Since St Vincent works for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
+2
Level 57
Jun 2, 2017
That's what I had initially, but I strive for correct country names in this quiz. And while (according to Wikipedia) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines "is also known simply as Saint Vincent", I haven't found any evidence in favour of 'Saint Kitts' being used to reference the whole country as opposed to the island that is but a part of it.

Same goes for Antigua and Barbuda, Sao Tome and Principe, and others.

Allowing 'St' instead of 'Saint' is already a stretch. :)

+21
Level 85
May 21, 2021
You should strive for consistency with the official Jetpunk type-ins. It will have to be if it ever gets featured.
+1
Level 76
Jan 9, 2022
"St. Vincent" is generally accepted as shorthand for the country on the island of St. Vincent. Try that in the Grenadines though! I don't mind your general position at all. It did lead me to miss the UK territory in the south Atlantic Ocean, since I guessed South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands. But that's fine - I learned as a result that they're grouped together as an administrative territory. I was also stuck forever on Oceania - the space remaining fit Wake Island. Again, I wasn't aware of the correct administrative territory.
+2
Level 76
Nov 5, 2022
Or, I thought I had learned, since ten months later I did exactly the same thing.
+1
Level 74
Jun 25, 2017
Why isn't Kosovo in the quiz?
+6
Level 57
Jun 26, 2017
Because it is not included in ISO 3166-1.
+1
Level 42
May 12, 2020
Aland islands should be Aaland Islands
+1
Level 57
Jun 19, 2020
Thanks, I'll add that as a type-in.
+3
Level 68
Jan 10, 2022
It's Åland, not Aland.
+4
Level 65
Jun 22, 2020
Bit harsh not to allow words meaning 'and' in the original language: Sao Tome e Principe, Saint Pierre et Miquelon.
+8
Level 57
Aug 28, 2020
Sorry, this is an English language quiz and that's how ISO lists them in English.
+1
Level 76
Jul 28, 2020
The correct title is 'French Southern and Antarctic lands' - that should be a type-in at least. There seems to be no consistency concerning the treatment of non-populated territories - some are included (South Georgia, Heard and McDonald, French Southern....) while others (Coral Sea Islands, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Clipperton Island) are not. Likewise if Kosovo is excluded then Taiwan and Palestine should be too - although I would include all three of them. And the countries that are unrecognised but exercise sovereignty... South Ossetia, North Cyprus, Somaliland etc)
+7
Level 57
Aug 28, 2020
Please see the title of the quiz – this is how ISO treats them, there's no way I can influence that.
+4
Level 68
Feb 3, 2021
Why don't you allow a lot of the standard type-ins i.e. 'St. Kitts', 'Trinidad', or 'NZ'?
+4
Level 57
Feb 24, 2021
This quiz is about correct and proper country names as per ISO - it's mentioned in the caveats.
+10
Level 85
May 21, 2021
I don't understand how accepting standard type-ins prevents you from listing the ISO names as the answers.
+1
Level 18
Feb 12, 2021
Can you accept “US Minor Outlying Islands”? If you accept “USVI” then that seems to be an appropriate abbreviation as well.
+2
Level 57
Feb 24, 2021
USMOI is already accepted, will add your variant too.
+2
Level 68
May 21, 2021
Great quiz, thank you.
+5
Level 80
May 21, 2021
You really should be more accepting with type-ins, it's pretty unreasonable to expect someone to type "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" instead of just "South Georgia" or "South Sandwich Islands". You should also accept stuff in its normal English spelling, like "Saint Martin" for both the French and Dutch parts, or "Saint Bartholomew" or "Saint Bart" for Saint Barthelemy.
+3
Level 57
May 24, 2021
I get your drift (and other commenters' too), but I like this quiz the way it is – that is, to test knowing the proper names of the countries, as opposed to just knowing vaguely what they sound like. For really long names, correct abbreviations are accepted, in this case "SGSSI".

"Sint Maarten" is the proper English spelling of the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. The French part is named the same as the whole island, true, but for me it makes no sense to accept the name of the French part for both of the countries.

"St Bart(h)s" is accepted, because the Wikipedia lists it in bold, unlike other variants.

+1
Level 72
May 22, 2021
Why doesn't ISO have ones for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland?
+4
Level 53
Apr 4, 2022
They are all called countries, but are not a sovereign state or dependent territory; country is just a title for a subdivision. Therefore, these are all encoded in ISO 3166-2, for subdivisions, as GB-ENG, GB-WLS, GB-SCO and GB-NIR respectively.
+2
Level 89
Apr 4, 2022
Because they are the same as states, provinces, departments, etc.
+5
Level 72
May 22, 2021
Needs a few more type ins for jetpunk features...
+3
Level 57
May 24, 2021
I doubt it'll ever get featured, judging by the dynamics... Maybe in some distant future I'll relax it, but for now, I've made the disclaimer about correct spellings more prominent. :)
+1
Level 73
Jan 9, 2022
I really like this quiz. As most geo-fans on here can do the countries of the world quizzes in their various formats but this also has the other territories, islands and regions. I got 227 and knew of around ten more of the ones I got wrong. Thanks a lot.,
+1
Level 67
Jan 9, 2022
I hope .xk comes soon!
+3
Level 73
Mar 30, 2022
Turks and Caicos and Sint Maarten are not in the right order
+1
Level 85
Mar 30, 2022
Yeah, that messed me up. I was thinking about Sint Maarten, but I didn't type it because it doesn't start with T.
+2
Level 57
Apr 11, 2022
Nice spot, thanks. Fixed.
+1
Level 61
Mar 30, 2022
Why is Taiwan in "Dusputed"? It is a soverign nation.
+2
Level 72
Mar 31, 2022
While most would heartily agree, it is unfortunately not (officially) a sovereign nation by the required standard. And won’t be while the PRC has a veto on the UNSC.
+3
Level 66
Jun 24, 2022
Thanks a lot for this quizz !

Just a point : The orthograph of "French guiana" is pretty puzzling to me, and made me lose a bitof time.

In french, we say "Guyane Française" with a y, in english and many other languages, the nearby independent country is called "Guyana" with a y.

So the "Guiana" with an i, is very disturbing. I understand that it is the orthograph of the ISO norm. But maybe you could accept the orthograph with a y.

+3
Level 57
Jun 24, 2022
Hi, thanks for your comment.

I think 'Guiana' is not only the ISO norm, but general English as well, at least from the look of the Wikipedia entry...

I'd like to keep it separate from 'Guyana'. How about adding 'Guyane' as a type-in?

+3
Level 90
Oct 3, 2022
Great quiz yuzhuk!

Congratulations on sticking to your guns on type-ins and English language spellings.

Unfortunately, quizmaster has made a lot of people soft by allowing these type-ins on other quizzes, but your quiz is a truer test of their knowledge.

+1
Level 61
Jun 14, 2023
I don't quite agree with your rules on type-ins, but I respect them. However, if you accept Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, and East Timor, you should accept Saint Martin for Sint Maarten. Despite what Wikipedia has, none of these English names are accepted by their governments to my knowledge, but they're all fairly common.

I understand you are trying to use Wikipedia as a standard, but it doesn't seem right to allow Congo for R. Congo but not D. R. Congo and Virgin Islands for BVT but not for USVT.

(If you're open to loosening your restrictions, I don't think it would be overkill to include acronyms like NZ, DR, and ROK.)

+1
Level 45
Jan 24, 2024
The official name for French Southern Territories is French Southern and Antarctic Lands, which doesn't work. Also by the standard of Tristan da Cunha etc., I would take an answer like Kerguelen as well.
+2
Level 57
Jan 24, 2024
"French Southern and Antarctic Lands" does work, maybe you've misspelled it.
+2
Level 67
Jan 24, 2024
Man, its a nice idea in principle but not accepting the usual type-ins like Kazachstan and Kyrgystan etc. just really ruins it for non-native speakers