Country lists
Every country that shares a trait, from landlocked to nuclear-armed.
- Amazon rainforest countries8 countriesEight countries share the Amazon, and France has a piece too, through French Guiana.
- Andean countries7 countriesThe Andes run about 7,000 km through seven countries, and Bolivia’s seat of government sits at 3,600 m.
- Arab League member states22 countriesTwenty-two members from the Atlantic to the Arabian Sea, and Palestine and the Comoros among them.
- Arctic Ocean countries6 countriesSix countries face the Arctic Ocean, and Denmark is one of them because of Greenland.
- ASEAN member countries11 countriesFive founders in 1967, eleven members now, and Timor-Leste joined in 2025, the first new member in 26 years.
- Atlantic Ocean countries64 countriesSixty-four countries face the Atlantic, more than any other ocean, on four continents.
- Baltic Sea countries9 countriesNine countries ring the Baltic, and since 2024 every one but Russia is in NATO.
- Black Sea countries6 countriesSix countries share the Black Sea, and below about 150 m its water has almost no oxygen.
- BRICS member countries10 countriesBRICS began as a bank economist’s acronym in 2001, and now has ten members, Indonesia the latest.
- Caribbean Sea countries20 countriesTwenty countries touch the Caribbean Sea, and the Bahamas and Barbados, both ‘Caribbean’, aren’t among them.
- Commonwealth member countries56 countriesFifty-six members, about a third of humanity, and Rwanda, Gabon and Togo were never British.
- Countries in the Arctic Circle8 countriesEight countries reach the Arctic Circle, and Iceland’s only share is the small island of Grímsey.
- Countries in the European Union27 countries27 members joined in seven waves, one country has left, and Greenland walked out in 1985.
- Countries of the former Yugoslavia7 countriesSeven countries, including one that was never a Yugoslav republic at all.
- Countries on the Equator12 countriesThe Equator crosses twelve countries’ land, and misses Equatorial Guinea’s altogether.
- Countries that drive on the left54 countriesA third of the world keeps left. Most were British, but not all.
- Countries that use the euro27 countriesTwenty-seven countries use the euro, and Kosovo and Montenegro adopted it without asking.
- Countries with a monarch43 countriesFrom monarchs who rule outright to monarchs who mostly cut ribbons.
- Countries with nuclear weapons9 countriesNine countries with the bomb, and the ones that built or inherited it and gave it up.
- Danube countries10 countriesThe Danube touches ten countries, more than any other river, and Moldova’s share is a few hundred metres.
- FIFA World Cup host countries23 countriesTwenty-three countries have hosted the World Cup or will, and only Mexico has done it three times.
- Former Soviet republics15 countriesFifteen countries: the Baltic three that led the way out and five that hardly asked to leave.
- G20 member countries19 countriesNineteen countries, plus the EU and the African Union: the G20 has 21 members and still keeps its name.
- Indian Ocean countries35 countriesThirty-five countries face the Indian Ocean, the only ocean named after a country.
- Island nations48 countriesForty-eight countries are made entirely of islands, and nine of them still have a land border.
- Landlocked countries45 countriesNo coast on the open sea, and two countries that are landlocked twice over.
- Mediterranean countries22 countriesTwenty-two countries on three continents share the Mediterranean, and Bosnia’s shore is about 20 km long.
- Mekong countries6 countriesSix countries share the Mekong, and in the rainy season its floods push Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap river backwards.
- NATO member countries32 countriesTwelve founders in 1949, 32 members now, and Article 5 invoked only once, after 9/11.
- OECD member countries38 countriesThirty-eight members that grew out of the Marshall Plan, and Costa Rica, in 2021, was the latest to join.
- OPEC member countries12 countriesTwelve members, from Venezuela to Iraq, and Qatar, Ecuador and Angola have all left since 2019.
- Pacific Ocean countries42 countriesForty-two countries face the Pacific, the largest ocean, bigger than all the world’s land put together.
- Persian Gulf countries8 countriesEight countries ring the Persian Gulf, and its only exit, the Strait of Hormuz, is about 40 km wide.
- Red Sea countries8 countriesEight countries share the Red Sea, and Jordan and Israel reach it only through the Gulf of Aqaba.
- Sahara Desert countries10 countriesTen countries share the Sahara, and Western Sahara, all desert, isn’t one of them.
- Schengen Area countries29 countriesTwenty-nine countries with no passport checks between them, named after a village in Luxembourg.
- Summer Olympics host countries19 countriesNineteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics, the US most often, and none of them is in Africa.
- Transcontinental countries13 countriesIstanbul sits on two continents, and so does Egypt. So, by some counts, does France.
- Winter Olympics host countries13 countriesThirteen countries have hosted the Winter Olympics, and none of them is in the Southern Hemisphere.
Countries that share a trait
Lists look simple until you ask what counts. Is a country landlocked if it borders a lake like the Caspian Sea? Does a currency count if a country uses it without being part of the union? Each list here spells out its rule, so you can see why a borderline case is in or out.
Some traits are rare: only two countries, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked, surrounded entirely by other landlocked countries. Many of these lists are the same ones behind Grid's clues, so they're also the place to check why an answer did or didn't count.