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Social studies & science · 3–12

Random Country Generator

Spin this random country generator to land on one of 195 countries: the 193 UN member states plus the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Continent tabs narrow the draw, and every country's row gives its capital, a starting point for a geography report.

Reviewed 195 countries in 6 lists8-minute read

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The wheel beside this guide changes as you edit.The wheel above changes as you edit. Rename an entry, add your own, or give a country extra chances with its weight; the slice grows so everyone can see it.

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    Remove winner after spinEach country leaves the wheel once it's picked.
    SoundsTicks while it spins, then a winner sound.
    ConfettiA short celebration on each result.
    Instant resultSkip the animation and show the result at once.

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      How to run a country research draw with the wheel

      All 195 countries make very thin slices, so the wheel adds a pointer readout, the name under the pointer in big type, and a dismissible Big list note that offers to split the wheel. Keep one wheel for a whole-world draw, or switch to a continent tab when you want 12 to 54 choices.

      1. Choose the world or a continentStart with all 195, or open a tab and press Put these on the wheel: Africa (54), Asia (48), Europe (44), North America (23), South America (12) or Oceania (14). Undo brings the full list back.
      2. Answer the Big list noteChoose keep one wheel for a single draw from every country. If you'd rather run several smaller wheels, let it split the list; for a draw by continent, the tabs below are quicker.
      3. Spin and watch the readoutPress F to put the wheel on the board and Space to spin. The readout tracks the name under the pointer as the wheel slows, and the winning country appears in big type when it stops.
      4. Give a 10-minute research startStudents find the country on a map, write its continent and capital (from the table here), and collect three facts: a neighbor, a language and a landmark. A timer keeps the first pass short.
      5. Keep reports uniqueFor a class report draw, turn on Remove winner in Options so no two students get the same country, then press Copy with times in the history to keep the record.

      Tiny countries get the same chance

      Every country is one equal slice, so Tuvalu comes up as often as China. To lean the draw toward bigger or more populous countries, add a weight such as India *5; the slice grows, so everyone can see the change.

      All 195 countries and capitals, by continent

      Each country appears on exactly one continent tab, so the six tabs add up to 195. The tabs follow the UN Statistics Division's regions, with Central America and the Caribbean counted in North America. Where a country has more than one capital, or its capital is disputed, the note says so plainly.

      All 195 countries and capitals, by continent: Africa (54)
      CountryCapitalOn the wheel
      AlgeriaAlgiers
      AngolaLuanda
      BeninPorto-Novo (official capital); Cotonou is the seat of government
      BotswanaGaborone
      Burkina FasoOuagadougou
      BurundiGitega (political capital since 2019); Bujumbura is the economic capital
      Cabo VerdePraia · also written Cape Verde
      CameroonYaoundé
      Central African RepublicBangui
      ChadN'Djamena
      ComorosMoroni
      Côte d'IvoireYamoussoukro (official capital); Abidjan is the economic capital · also called Ivory Coast
      DR CongoKinshasa · full name: Democratic Republic of the Congo
      DjiboutiDjibouti (city)
      EgyptCairo
      Equatorial GuineaCiudad de la Paz (named the capital in January 2026; Malabo was the capital before)
      EritreaAsmara
      EswatiniMbabane (administrative) and Lobamba (royal and legislative) · formerly Swaziland
      EthiopiaAddis Ababa
      GabonLibreville
      GambiaBanjul
      GhanaAccra
      GuineaConakry
      Guinea-BissauBissau
      KenyaNairobi
      LesothoMaseru
      LiberiaMonrovia
      LibyaTripoli
      MadagascarAntananarivo
      MalawiLilongwe
      MaliBamako
      MauritaniaNouakchott
      MauritiusPort Louis
      MoroccoRabat
      MozambiqueMaputo
      NamibiaWindhoek
      NigerNiamey
      NigeriaAbuja
      Republic of the CongoBrazzaville
      RwandaKigali
      São Tomé and PríncipeSão Tomé
      SenegalDakar
      SeychellesVictoria
      Sierra LeoneFreetown
      SomaliaMogadishu
      South AfricaPretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial)
      South SudanJuba · independent since 2011, the newest country
      SudanKhartoum
      TanzaniaDodoma (official capital); Dar es Salaam is the largest city
      TogoLomé
      TunisiaTunis
      UgandaKampala
      ZambiaLusaka
      ZimbabweHarare
      Africa (54) · replaces the current list, Undo brings it back

      195 countries: the 193 UN member states plus the 2 UN observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Continents follow UN Statistics Division regions: Russia in Europe; Egypt in Africa; Türkiye, Cyprus, Kazakhstan and the Caucasus in Asia. Names are short English forms; for renamed countries (Czechia, Eswatini, Türkiye) the note gives the older name. Capitals checked October 2026.

      8 ways to use the random country generator

      Country of the week

      Spin on Monday, pin the country on the classroom map and add one fact a day: capital, flag, a greeting, a food, an animal. Over a 36-week school year, the map fills with three dozen countries the class knows well.

      A continent unit

      Studying one continent? Load its tab and draw a country per student. Africa's 54 countries cover a full class with room to spare; South America's 12 suit small groups or a station rotation.

      Travel daydreams

      As a random country generator for travel, spin for a someday destination, then look up the capital, the best season to visit and how long the flight takes. Loading one continent keeps the plan to a single trip.

      Around-the-world dinner night

      Families spin a country, find one dish from it to cook together, and locate it on a map at the table. Once a month makes a good tradition, and nobody argues about whose turn it is to choose.

      Country-by-letter race

      Spin a letter and race to name a country that starts with it. Some letters are traps: on this list only Oman starts with O, only Qatar with Q and only Yemen with Y, and no country starts with W or X.

      Open the letter generator

      Research trios

      Make groups of three, spin a country for each group, and split the jobs: one maps it, one finds the capital and population, one finds a greeting in the main language. Groups share in two minutes each.

      Make the groups

      The Pacific challenge

      Most students can name Australia and New Zealand, but few can place Tuvalu, Nauru or Palau. Load Oceania's 14 for a five-minute find-it-on-the-map round.

      Classroom geography bee

      Spin, and the contestant names the continent and capital; the class checks the answer in the table. Presentation mode shows the country in big type for the whole room.

      Random country generator: frequently asked questions

      How many countries are there in the world?

      The most common answer is 195: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus its 2 observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and the State of Palestine. Other counts differ by a few, because some places, such as Kosovo and Taiwan, govern themselves and are recognized by some countries but are not UN members or observers. This list sticks to the 195.

      How many countries are in each continent?

      On this list: Africa 54, Asia 48, Europe 44, North America 23, South America 12 and Oceania 14, for 195 in all. Other books may differ by one or two, mostly because they place countries along the Europe–Asia line, such as Russia, Türkiye or Cyprus, on a different side. Antarctica has no countries.

      Which countries are on two continents?

      The best-known examples are Russia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which straddle the line between Europe and Asia, and Egypt, which reaches into Asia through the Sinai Peninsula. Each still gets one tab here, following the UN's statistical regions: Russia is in Europe, Egypt is in Africa, and the others are in Asia. If your textbook places one differently, move it before you spin.

      What is the newest country?

      South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan on July 9, 2011, and joined the United Nations five days later. It is the most recent country to join the UN. Before that, Montenegro became independent in 2006 and Timor-Leste in 2002.

      What are the largest and smallest countries?

      By area, Russia is the largest, about 6.6 million square miles, and Vatican City is the smallest, less than a quarter of a square mile inside Rome. By population, India has the most people, having passed China in 2023 by UN estimates, and Vatican City has the fewest.

      Is a tiny country as likely to come up as a big one?

      Yes. Each country is one equal slice, so Tuvalu has the same 1-in-195 chance as Brazil. If you want a draw that favors larger or more populous countries, give them a weight such as Brazil *4; that slice grows on the wheel, so the change is visible to everyone. Remove the weights to go back to equal odds.

      How the randomness works

      When you press Spin, ChalkSpin asks your browser's Web Crypto generator for a random number and uses it to choose the winning slice before the wheel starts turning. The animation then lands on that slice. Each slice's chance is its share of the wheel: 195 equal countries means a 1 in 195 chance each.

      Weights are always visible: a country marked *2 gets a slice twice as wide, so everyone can see why it comes up more. Turn on Remove winner if a country shouldn't come up twice in a round.

      Read the full randomness explainer

      Generator
      Web Crypto (crypto.getRandomValues), in your browser
      Odds
      Equal to each slice's size on the wheel
      Weights
      Shown openly as wider slices, never hidden
      Repeats
      Off when Remove winner is on
      Your list
      Stays in this browser unless you share or save it
      Last reviewed Written for Grades 3–12 teachers, homeschoolers and familiesOn the lists 195 countriesSuggest a country

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