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Countries Closest to Alaska

Which countries lie geographically closest to the U.S. state of Alaska?
Excludes offshore uninhabited islands
Other countries closest to U.S. State quizzes: Maine, Hawaii and Florida
Red text indicates an overseas territory
Quiz by TenThousand
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Last updated: August 21, 2023
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First submittedAugust 16, 2014
Times taken76,359
Average score75.0%
Rating4.86
3:00
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km
country
miles
0
Canada
0
4
Russia
2
2135
Denmark (Greenland)
1327
2195
Japan
1364
2677
China
1663
2689
Mexico
1671
3291
North Korea
2045
3703
South Korea
2301
3740
Mongolia
2324
4163
Iceland
2587
km
country
miles
4170
Norway
2591
4289
Finland
2665
4407
Sweden
2739
4644
Marshall Islands
2886
4940
France (St. Pierre & Miquelon)
3070
5165
Bahamas
3209
5169
United Kingdom
3212
5200
Taiwan
3231
5226
Cuba
3247
5251
F.S. Micronesia
3263
+41
Level 76
Aug 17, 2014
If you're tempted to say "surely Country X can't be right", double-check the answers first using a globe and some string!
+35
Level 75
Jun 5, 2017
I did - I really thought more of the Central American countries would be on here...
+2
Level 67
Aug 21, 2017
Faroes Islands as a territory?
+8
Level 76
Dec 19, 2018
If this quiz used Countries 197 to 205, it would appear here. This quiz uses the Countries 1 to 196 template, which makes the nearest point of Denmark to Alaska its constituent country of Greenland. The Faroes, another constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, are further away.
+8
Level 66
Aug 21, 2017
And then you'll figure out "Country-X can be right and don't call me Shirley!"
+1
Level 65
Jul 4, 2021
USA must been correct
+6
Level 52
Aug 18, 2014
How about USA?
+18
Level 76
Aug 18, 2014
Nah, otherwise you'd be saying everyone is near themselves :)
+6
Level 76
Apr 4, 2020
Right. And it only took me 2:30 minutes of trying USA in vain, to realize that it was asking for countries close to Alaska and not Canada. D'oh!
+18
Level 95
Jun 5, 2017
Fascinating and fun. I could have sworn Ireland would have made it into the list...
+7
Level 90
Jun 5, 2017
Yeah, I found that surprising too. I'm guessing the UK makes it because some territory and Finland et al are closer to Alaska's westernmost point? Or maybe it has to do with them being so far up North?
+11
Level 76
Jun 5, 2017
Try doing this using a globe, and it will make much more sense! The shortest route to the UK is from the north-easternmost corner of Alaska to Shetland Islands, but that most direct route appears on a regular world map as an upward-sweeping arc that passes north of Eureka on Ellesmere Island. Since that shortest distance involves coming into Europe from the north like that, Ireland becomes a fair distance "behind" the UK and therefore a fair bit further away.
+1
Level 35
Oct 19, 2022
the closet riute to the uk is bermuda as bermuda is an oversea territory
+1
Level 35
Oct 19, 2022
ez
+1
Level 35
Oct 19, 2022
also no, its not bermuda, our earth is a globe, and alaska and the uk are up north a lot, so they will be close to each other
+4
Level 77
Jun 5, 2017
Very tricky with having to go up and over. Huge range of countries and locations and climates.
+10
Level 76
Jun 5, 2017
Nearest miss, at 5405 km: Kiribati. Also, keeping to our "excludes uninhabited offshore islands" rule, the distance to Russia should appear as 44 km / 27 miles. Big Diomede Island in Russia is indeed 4 km / 2 miles from Little Diomede, Alaska but, unlike Little Diomede, it is uninhabited. (We left the 4 and 2 number up here because it's way more famous!)
+9
Level 69
Nov 12, 2019
They want us to THINK it’s uninhabited! 😬
+2
Level 78
Apr 4, 2020
When I finished, I saw that Interesting Facts #20 was at the bottom of the screen: "Alaska's 'Little Diomede' island is just 2.3 miles from Russia's 'Big Diomede' island." I found it fitting.
+1
Level 64
Nov 1, 2022
I'm guessing this is also the reason why the closest point in France is St. Pierre & Miquelon, and not Clipperton Island?
+7
Level 65
Jun 5, 2017
Alaska's interesting location makes this very challenging and fun!
+4
Level 74
Jun 5, 2017
I think St Pierre and Miqueron should sneak France onto the list above some of these. It's about 5083.

That is, if Greenland counts for Denmark.

+3
Level 76
Jun 5, 2017
Good point! I'll submit that update to the Quizmaster, and let's see what is decided!
+3
Level 74
Jun 7, 2017
I see it has been added, excellent!
+8
Level 76
Jun 7, 2017
We aim to please. Also, thanks to Quizmaster for showing me a new feature by slightly reducing the size of some words. You do that by writing the following: < X spanXstyle=X"font-size: 90%"X> - now remove the X's to make it work - if I remove them now, then the rest of this sentence would look like this, 90% of the size of the earlier text.
+2
Level 69
Nov 12, 2019
Handy! But since you shortened “Federated States” to “F.S.”, it looks to me like you can go back up to 100% on Micronesia, no?
+10
Level 66
Nov 13, 2019
That is very interesting
+3
Level 66
Nov 13, 2019
will probably have forgotten tomorrow though,
+2
Level 59
Nov 20, 2020
I definitely forgot tomorrow, I saw this like a few years ago and I never used it. out of curiosity, how do you change colour, italics, boldness etc.. I would assume that it would be similar with something like < X spanXstyle=X"colour: *hexadecimal code*"X>, but that's probably way off.
+5
Level 63
Jun 7, 2017
I forgot Iceland. Sorry Iceland. :(
+2
Level 76
Aug 21, 2017
Wow I was sure Kiribati, being the westernmost, would be closer than Marshall Islands or Micronesia. Guess it's too far south!
+3
Level 59
Nov 20, 2020
maybe cause some of the islands are uninhabited?
+2
Level 45
May 30, 2022
It's still part of the country?
+2
Level 47
Aug 21, 2017
You need to be more consistent with these quizzes. This one includes overseas territories and not countries from the 197-205 quiz. But your one about Maine, Hawaii and Florida are the opposite. Those do not include overseas territories but do include those 197-205 ones. They all need to be the same.
+7
Level 76
Aug 21, 2017
We are clear with our instructions on each quiz!
+4
Level 47
Aug 21, 2017
Yes, I'm aware of the instructions. I'm saying they should be the same on every one. Keep it consistent.
+3
Level 77
Aug 21, 2017
So hard to earn 5 points here. I will try again in a few months again.
+2
Level 35
Aug 21, 2017
That Arctic circle!
+2
Level 44
Aug 21, 2017
what about the philippines
+2
Level 76
Aug 21, 2017
5576 km / 3465 miles.
+2
Level 94
Aug 21, 2017
Totally not related to this specific quiz but is there a 'league table' of any sort showing a list of peoples points/levels? Curious to see how far off I am from others...
+6
Level 78
Aug 21, 2017
Yes - it's in this blog post: https://www.jetpunk.com/blog/jetpunk-level-stats
+2
Level 68
Aug 21, 2017
Can someone explain to me why Iceland and the UK are on this list but not Ireland?
+2
Level 76
Aug 21, 2017
See my answer to NigelS above.
+4
Level 66
Nov 13, 2019
The explanation is, they are closer..
+2
Level 64
Aug 21, 2017
amazing quiz. thanks a lot for that one. missed the hard two :/
+2
Level 28
Aug 21, 2017
i got a hundred
+2
Level 52
Aug 21, 2017
I got all of them except China. Whoooops...
+2
Level 21
Aug 21, 2017
USA? Russia? North Pole? Canada?
+10
Level 89
Aug 21, 2017
Narnia? Hoth? The Moon?
+3
Level 59
Apr 5, 2020
While I love Jacktheguy's comment, to clarify, Alaska isn't close to the US because it's part of it (That's like saying that you're close to yourself), Russia and Canada are on the list and I have no clue why you think the North Pole is a country.
+2
Level 39
Aug 28, 2017
No Ireland??
+2
Level 59
Nov 20, 2020
This was answered above, Alaska approaches Uk, Finland, Iceland etc. from above through the north pole, look at a globe and you'll see this puts Ireland a bit behind the UK, This is a large enough distance to keep it off the list.
+2
Level 61
Dec 4, 2017
One second left! Not kidding, exactly one second.
+2
Level 52
Dec 19, 2018
Where is the United States? Isn't it close to itself? XP
+2
Level 76
Dec 19, 2018
See our reply to Kontio100, above,
+2
Level 59
Apr 5, 2020
And LvE
+2
Level 69
Apr 4, 2020
Fun quiz.
+2
Level 70
Apr 4, 2020
That was TRIPPY!
+2
Level 63
Apr 8, 2020
Cuba and The Bahamas surprised me most, followed by Mongolia. I'm honestly shocked that The Philippines didn't make the cut though.
+3
Level 43
May 21, 2020
Missed Denmark :(
+2
Level 16
Nov 18, 2020
I def. did not think countries of Europe (besides Denmark (Greenland)) would be here.
+2
Level 66
Dec 27, 2020
For some reason people forget the earth is a globe and you can cross over the Arctic Ocean
+2
Level 66
Dec 27, 2020
If you measure the closest distance from Alaska to Svalbard (Norway) it is only 3088km / 1919 mi
+2
Level 69
Jan 26, 2021
Got 20/20 but I typed Norway (and then the other 2) thinking, 'no way this is here but why not?'

Didn't think about going through the North Pole until I looked at a map

+2
Level 70
Mar 11, 2021
I bet if you travel across the north pole to Norway than it would be a lot closer than some on the list
+2
Level 57
Mar 29, 2021
It's so hard to believe that Alaska and Russia (at the closest point) are only 2 miles away from each other! I guess it just shows how big Russia actually is
+1
Level 85
Jan 28, 2022
Sarah Palin was right the whole time after all.
+3
Level 52
Apr 13, 2021
I stupidly guessed USA, and based off that I figured no more North American countries could possibly be featured.....
+1
Level 67
Jun 15, 2021
Nice bro check out my new quizzes I'm making more Star Wars stuff
+2
Level 67
Jun 15, 2021
Interesting, you sometimes don't realize how close some of the northern ones are because you're used to seeing them on a map usually not a globe
+2
Level 67
Dec 26, 2021
I'm ashamed to say that i forgot the Earth was a globe for a minute here...
+1
Level 51
Oct 18, 2022
The Earth is flat, duh.
+1
Level 35
Feb 21, 2022
I was thinking about it laterally, like most people who commented here, and so didnt think about norway, finland, or sweden, or iceland.

Also forgot about greenland being an overseas territory of Denmark (idk how).

+1
Level 56
Mar 3, 2022
I would say that the United States is pretty close to Alaska.
+2
Level 89
Oct 18, 2022
"Listen to me, all of you! We are never going back to America again!" - Homer Simpson, The Simpsons Movie (when the family is hiding in a cabin in Alaska)
+1
Level 30
Oct 18, 2022
Scandinavian countries almost slipped out of my mind
+1
Level 59
Jan 11, 2023
I really thought the Philippines. Guess Marshall Islands and F.S Micronesia are closer.
+1
Level 41
Nov 28, 2023
Nice quiz interesting
+1
Level 40
Mar 13, 2024
I missed he two Oceanic countries