How to play
- Press Start. You have 2 minutes 30 seconds for all 25.
- Type an answer, in any order. It counts as soon as it matches, with no need to press Enter, and fills in its row.
- Pause whenever you like; the list is hidden while the clock is stopped. If you leave mid-game, it waits, paused, until you come back.
- When the time is up, the ones you missed fill in, marked as missed.
About the most populous countries
Together, the 25 most populous countries are home to nearly three in every four people on Earth. The top two each have more than 1.4 billion people, over four times as many as the third. The list spans every inhabited continent but Oceania.
More about the ranking (names some answers)
India passed China as the most populous country in 2023, by the UN’s estimates. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and Brazil in South America. Japan, Russia and Italy are in the top 25 though their populations are shrinking; Ethiopia, DR Congo and Tanzania are among the fastest growing.
What counts
Populations are the United Nations’ estimates for 1 July 2025, from World Population Prospects 2024. Only the 197 countries on this site are ranked, so territories aren’t answers. A country outside the 25 clears the box with a note.
Capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation don’t matter, but the spelling does.
The accepted alternative forms appear here when your quiz ends, so they don’t give any answers away.
| Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|
| China | People's Republic of China |
| United States | USA, US, United States of America, America |
| Russia | Russian Federation |
| DR Congo | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Congo-Kinshasa |
| Vietnam | Viet Nam |
| Türkiye | Turkey |
| Tanzania | United Republic of Tanzania |
| United Kingdom | UK, Great Britain, Britain |
Questions
Why does the order differ from other lists?
Sources estimate populations differently and in different years. This one uses the UN’s figures for 1 July 2025, from World Population Prospects 2024.
More to play
- Countries of the World: Type every country you can before the clock runs out.
- Capitals of the World: Name the capital of every country before the clock runs out.
- Periodic Table: Name every chemical element before the clock runs out.
- Element Symbols: Name the chemical element behind every symbol.
- Flags of the World: Name the country from its flag.
- Scrambled Countries: Unscramble the letters to find the country.
- Scrambled Capitals: Unscramble the letters to find the capital city.
- Greek Alphabet: Name all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, from their shapes.
- NATO Phonetic Alphabet: Name the code word for every letter, A to Z.
- 100 Most Common English Words: Name the 100 words that turn up most often in classic novels.
- Planets: Name the eight planets of the solar system in one minute.
- Olympian Gods: Name the twelve gods of Mount Olympus from what they ruled.
- English Monarchs: Name every king and queen of England since 1066.
- Zodiac Signs: Name the twelve signs of the zodiac from their dates.
- Best Picture Winners: Name every film that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- All quizzes
- El Trivia home