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Populous Countries Bordering Smaller Countries

Name the countries sharing a land border which have the largest ratio in population.
Population as of 1 September 2023. More info here
As measured by dividing the larger population by the smaller one
Quiz by Stewart
Rate:
Last updated: September 1, 2023
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First submittedMay 12, 2019
Times taken82,661
Average score80.0%
Rating4.98
4:00
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 / 30 guessed
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Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
x Larger
Countries
58,842
Italy
Vatican City
1,876
France
Monaco
1,820
China
Bhutan
1,816
India
Bhutan
1,731
Italy
San Marino
844
France
Andorra
594
Spain
Andorra
415
China
Mongolia
347
Brazil
Suriname
312
Mexico
Belize
266
Brazil
Guyana
x Larger
Countries
223
Austria
Liechtenstein
220
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
212
China
Kyrgyzstan
204
Indonesia
East Timor
187
China
Laos
141
China
Tajikistan
127
Germany
Luxembourg
112
Ethiopia
Djibouti
109
Russia
Estonia
108
France
Suriname
103
France
Luxembourg
+2
Level 72
May 14, 2019
Bit more leeway on the spelling of the smaller of the 230 answer would b nice. Unless I typo-ed, I spelt it how I always do and, unlike other quizzes on here, it wasn't accepted.
+17
Level 68
May 14, 2019
It has its default typein, so all usual spellings should work just fine.
+5
Level 88
May 14, 2019
Great quiz.
+10
Level 69
May 14, 2019
I'm almost sure there should be Nepal in place of Mongolia
+38
Level 68
May 14, 2019
This is population not area. China has 48x Nepal's population. Mongolia is very large in area but very small in population. (In fact Mongolia is the least dense country on Earth!)

I have resubmitted with the change from "Small" to "Smaller" in the title, this should make it clear that Population is still the only factor being considered here, as clearly stated in the description.

+15
Level 66
May 27, 2019
Awesome quiz idea. I must be honest, I was thinking about size when taking it aswell. Smaller countries still refers to size. Less populous would be better.
+11
Level 66
May 27, 2019
Though it say clearly in the description :) But I usually only read them when I foresee controverse, or dont understand the title fully.
+2
Level 68
Apr 16, 2020
Size? I went through this whole quiz and at the end, missed only Indonesia and East Timor.
+3
Level 66
Jun 18, 2020
damm, you won't belive it, but I realised that after taking the quiz and reading your comment :D anyway, not bad that I missed only one couple :D
+1
Level 69
Jun 18, 2020
Small/smaller connotes size more than population.

Perhaps "scantier" might be a better word? Though I can imagine problems with that word...

+11
Level 75
May 15, 2019
Nepal's population is ~32 mil compared to Mongolia's ~3.5 mil
+1
Level 43
May 29, 2023
i always thought nepal had only 2 million

i am too dumb

+1
Level 65
Oct 19, 2023
If that were the case, then I probably wouldn't exist.
+1
Level 52
Oct 19, 2023
Me too.
+8
Level 59
May 14, 2019
How about Malaysia and Brunei?
+19
Level 68
May 14, 2019
Close call. Sits at 74x. Malaysia has a smaller population than people might think!
+8
Level 69
May 18, 2019
Stewart, you are a bastion of great quiz ideas! I love this one. But I could use a wee bit more time. I don't like when a good, thinking quiz like this makes me run out of time before I run out of easy answers.
+4
Level 68
May 18, 2019
I've added an extra 30 seconds :)
+2
Level 36
Jul 22, 2019
Love this quizz ! Congrats
+1
Level 52
Jul 22, 2019
Great quiz, thanks. Love the idea.
+1
Level 64
Jul 22, 2019
France sitting all tricksy there. Still managed my 30/30 but needed some lateral thinking!
+1
Level 43
Mar 10, 2022
Suriname got you?
+4
Level 47
Aug 31, 2019
Basically just guess all the European microstates for most of them XD
+1
Level 38
Sep 1, 2019
Malaysia and Singapore?
+9
Level 68
Sep 2, 2019
About 32 million and 6 million, not a very big multiplier at all. Singapore is surprisingly populous for its size and Malaysia has fewer people than it seems.
+13
Level 60
Jun 14, 2020
Plus they don't share a land border, but let's not open this can of worms again. :-D
+1
Level 44
Jun 13, 2022
Singapore is an island
+2
Level 69
Nov 9, 2019
Anyone who says they guessed Suriname and France on the first try is lying
+54
Level 63
Nov 19, 2019
...or a JetPunk geography geek.
+32
Level 68
Mar 8, 2020
Just needs to know France - Monaco and Brazil - Suriname. They get auto-filled :)
+34
Level 84
Apr 16, 2020
Anyone who thinks that the France-Suriname connection is a big mystery hasn't taken enough Geography quizzes on JetPunk. :-)
+10
Level 61
Apr 21, 2020
I did Monaco first, but yes, I did get Suriname very quickly.
+5
Level 35
Jun 18, 2020
I did
+6
Level 75
Jun 18, 2020
I got it on the first try and I've never told a lie except the one I just told. :) I really did get it on the first try, though. As others have indicated, the whole thing about French Guiana is a department of France rather than a territory has been hashed out many times here.
+3
Level 66
Jul 19, 2021
Its quite easy really because Brazil-Suriname is included as well. I would have got it anyway, but my guess is that's why most people got it.
+2
Level 65
Dec 20, 2021
Or probably looked in the comments.
+1
Level 63
Feb 11, 2022
I guessed them on my first try while thinking of monaco and Brazil with both
+6
Level 55
Apr 6, 2020
got 26/30 before i realized that it was population size and not area lol
+3
Level 78
Apr 16, 2020
South Africa and Lesotho or eSwatini ?
+3
Level 68
Apr 16, 2020
South Africa only 60m people, so Lesotho and Eswatini only 30x and 60x roughly
+3
Level 77
May 8, 2020
What about Russia and Estonia?
+5
Level 68
May 8, 2020
111x, just under the boundary, thanks to Russia's declining population
+1
Level 60
Aug 7, 2021
Now down to 108x!
+2
Level 68
Jul 5, 2023
Now 110x and it's on the list!
+2
Level 49
Jun 18, 2020
Probably should specify that this includes overseas territories as well.
+14
Level 68
Jun 18, 2020
Why? Overseas territories are not included, as none of these are... I suppose you're referring to the last one, which is not an overseas territory but merely an overseas region. French Guiana to France is like Hawaii to the U.S., it's as much part of the country as Paris is.
+3
Level 72
Jun 18, 2020
Interesting that people got Mexico right by several percentage points more than they got Belize right. Some typed Guatemala but couldn't think of Belize, sure, but I wonder how many of the people who got Mexico but not Belize thought that one pair would be Mexico/USA.
+3
Level 90
Jun 18, 2020
Beat my head against the wall wondering how Indonesia and Brunei wasn't a pair. Please excuse my ignorance.
+2
Level 65
Jun 18, 2020
Pretty impressive how well I did considering I totally ignored the whole "population" aspect and went with area. Doh.
+1
Level 48
Jun 24, 2020
same...
+1
Level 72
Jun 18, 2020
Good quiz! I missed the two island countries that share a border.
+1
Level 48
Jun 24, 2020
Loool I thought it was about area not about population until I finished the quiz... This is why I didn't get Mongolia
+2
Level 67
Feb 14, 2021
The idea of looking at the figures didn't come to my mind. I even thought the quiz was "by area" and I didn't even see anything wrong in not seeing China/N.Korea show up. I can now say officially I answer Jetpunk's geography quizzes by instinct and not because I want to learn new things or validate my knowledge! (Somehow managed to get 25 still... and feel happy with it)
+1
Level 28
Jul 3, 2021
Great Quiz! I thought there would be South Africa and Eswatimi
+2
Level 26
Aug 28, 2021
Falls short at ~52×. I think it surprises some people that Eswatini has nearly 1.2 million people
+1
Level 28
Jul 3, 2021
*Eswatini
+1
Level 42
Jul 4, 2021
China is bigger than mongolia for 442 times? Since when?
+7
Level 68
Jul 4, 2021
Population-wise, Mongolia is tiny
+1
Level 67
Dec 20, 2021
Just missed East Timor
+1
Level 67
Dec 20, 2021
At first I was like "Woah what could that first one be" and then it made so much sense
+1
Level 43
Apr 22, 2022
same as well
+1
Level 85
Jan 27, 2022
Good one! Fun!
+2
Level 88
Jan 28, 2022
Gotta love micro nations! ;)
+1
Level 35
Mar 10, 2022
One second left... .just got indonesia and east timor... wow
+3
Level 34
Jul 6, 2022
ain't no way china is that much larger than Mongolia I refuse to believe

Edit: I had finished the quiz when writing this comment getting 27/30 and I have only just realized that the quiz was based on population not size. LMAO

+2
Level 68
Jul 6, 2022
China has over 1.4 billion people. Mongolia is one of the sparsest countries with just 3 million people spread over 1.5 million square kilometres.
+1
Level 53
Sep 16, 2022
I thought this was with area the entire time so I was so confused. How is china more bigger than kyrgyzstan than tajikistan wtf?

But its population.

+1
Level 77
Oct 16, 2022
There is a conflict between your two instructions - one says population difference and the other ratio. From the answers, it is clear that you are using ratio and not difference. Can you amend the instructions to reflect this?
+1
Level 40
Dec 14, 2022
I didnt think about French Guiana until the last second. I managed to type Suriname in time, though.
+1
Level 50
Jan 6, 2023
Mongolia and China seems wrong
+1
Level 55
May 18, 2023
Mongolia has a population of less than 4 million people.
+2
Level 52
Apr 26, 2023
ratio
+1
Level 64
May 31, 2023
what about mexico guatemala?
+2
Level 60
Jul 27, 2023
A quick Google search shows Mexico : 127 million, Guatemala is 17 million. The ratio is less than 7.5.
+1
Level 55
Oct 22, 2023
Oh... my... god... I never even read the "population". Yet i still got every answer except Mongolia. Wrote Nepal a million times and was about to look up if they changed their name or something