50 World Geography Quiz Questions (With Answers)

Fifty questions in three tiers — easy, medium and hard — plus notes on why the tricky answers are what they are. Read a section, cover the answer paragraph that follows it, and score yourself.

Easy (10 questions)

1. What is the capital of Canada?
2. Which is the largest country in the world by area?
3. Which river flows through Egypt?
4. On which continent is the Sahara Desert?
5. What is the smallest country in the world?
6. Which country has a maple leaf on its flag?
7. What is the longest river in the world by most measures?
8. Which country is shaped like a boot?
9. What is the capital of Japan?
10. Which is the largest ocean?

Answers: Ottawa; Russia; the Nile; Africa; Vatican City; Canada; the Nile (the Amazon by some post-2007 surveys); Italy; Tokyo; the Pacific.

Medium (10 questions)

1. What is the capital of Australia?
2. Which two countries share the island of Hispaniola?
3. Which mountain range separates Europe from Asia?
4. What is the capital of New Zealand?
5. Which is the most populous country in Africa?
6. Name the strait between Spain and Morocco.
7. Which country has the most time zones?
8. What is the capital of Switzerland?
9. Which sea is so salty and dense that swimmers float easily?
10. Which African country was never colonised by a European power?

Answers: Canberra; Haiti and the Dominican Republic; the Urals; Wellington; Nigeria; the Strait of Gibraltar; France (12, counting overseas territories); Bern; the Dead Sea; Ethiopia.

Hard (10 questions)

1. What is the capital of Kazakhstan?
2. Which two countries are double-landlocked?
3. What is the newest UN member state?
4. Which country has three capital cities?
5. Name the world's largest landlocked country.
6. What is the capital of Bhutan?
7. Which country's flag is the only non-rectangular national flag?
8. What is the southernmost capital city in the world?
9. Which two countries border the most other countries?
10. What is the highest capital city in the world (seat of government)?

Answers: Astana; Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan; South Sudan (2011); South Africa; Kazakhstan; Thimphu; Nepal; Wellington, New Zealand; China and Russia (14 each); La Paz, Bolivia.

Expert bonus round (10 questions)

1. Which country was renamed from Swaziland in 2018?
2. The equator passes through how many countries?
3. What is the capital of Burundi as of 2019?
4. Which African country's capital moved from Bujumbura?
5. Name the only country that borders both the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean and lies entirely in the southern part of Africa.
6. What is the capital of Palau?
7. Which country changed its official UN name to Türkiye in 2022?
8. Which desert is technically the largest in the world?
9. What is the deepest lake in the world?
10. Which strait connects the Mediterranean and the Black Sea past Istanbul?

Answers: Eswatini; 13; Gitega; Burundi (see previous — same answer, the country is Burundi); South Africa; Ngerulmud; Turkey; the Antarctic Desert (a desert is defined by low precipitation, not heat); Lake Baikal; the Bosphorus.