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Sunniest Countries

Which countries have the lowest average percentage of cloud cover over the entire territory of the country?
For the years 1991–2020. Source.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: July 17, 2022
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First submittedJuly 17, 2022
Times taken22,217
Average score80.0%
Rating4.88
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%
Continent
Country
14.5
Africa
Egypt
17.7
Africa
Libya
20.6
Africa
Chad
21.0
Africa
Algeria
21.1
Asia
Jordan
21.4
Africa
Sudan
22.3
Asia
United Arab Emirates
22.6
Asia
Saudi Arabia
23.0
Asia
Qatar
23.9
Africa
Botswana
%
Continent
Country
24.0
Africa
Namibia
24.4
Asia
Bahrain
24.4
Asia
Iraq
25.1
Africa
Niger
25.5
Africa
South Africa
26.1
Asia
Oman
27.5
Africa
Mauritania
28.1
Oceania
Australia
28.5
Africa
Djibouti
28.7
Asia
Israel
+12
Level 80
Jul 18, 2022
This one however seems to have a very strong correlation with the driest countries unlike the wettest vs cloudiest countries.
+11
Level 75
Jul 19, 2022
Australia is among the sunniest countries yet also among those with the highest precipitation (although per area). Interesting. I guess if it rains, it pours there.
+3
Level 35
Sep 26, 2022
Yes, and cyclones help with that
+3
Level 66
Sep 27, 2022
It does in the tropics. This year has been marked by devastating flood after devastating flood especially in NSW and southern QLD.
+11
Level 87
Jul 19, 2022
Seems a bit odd that Kuwait is not on the list, when every nearby country is.
+7
Level 72
Aug 19, 2022
It would seem that (maybe) its proximity to the Shatt al-Arab pushes its cloud coverage up a tad. As per the source, it is tied with Pakistan for the sunniest countries not to make the cut.
+1
Level 39
Sep 26, 2022
Yeah this is what i thought too
+5
Level 84
Jul 20, 2022
Embarrassed that I only missed Djibouti - a country I've actually been to! :-(
+3
Level 76
Jul 22, 2022
How was it? Got outside "the city" without problems? Asking for a friend ... who is me.
+3
Level 84
Aug 19, 2022
I was there as a contractor (working at Lemonnier) - so I didn't get out of the city, unfortunately. Some folks who were there longer got out to see Lake Assal and features of the Great Rift, which I wish I had had time to see!
+7
Level 57
Jul 21, 2022
There’s no place like Australia!
+2
Level 50
Aug 19, 2022
Lots of Arab countries, or just African and Asian countries
+1
Level 58
Aug 19, 2022
Surprised to not see Yemen here.
+21
Level 58
Aug 19, 2022
I had gotten like 8 answers before I realized that 'sunniest' meant 'the most sunny' and not 'containing the most sunni muslims'
+11
Level 68
Aug 19, 2022
sunny islam 😎
+3
Level 72
Aug 19, 2022
Hopefully you also thought that was "most" in the sense of highest percentage, rather than highest raw number. Else, the lack of Indonesia and Pakistan should probably have tipped you off before that...

Well, the thumbnail definitely should have tipped you off before that, but you get the idea/

+4
Level 82
Aug 19, 2022
Surprised that South Africa and Botswana edge out Tunisia and some other desert countries, but otherwise fairly predictable.
+5
Level 75
Aug 19, 2022
Every time I thought I got a "rule" for this quiz it was almost always immediately broken.

Perhaps Tunisia has too much exposure to the Mediterranean to make the cut. Yet Israel is there...

Perhaps Mali's southern territory produces enough cloud coverage to keep it off the quiz. Yet Chad is #3 on the list...

Oman but no Yemen? Iraq but no Syria? And if Syria is not there, again, how is Israel there?

I did complete the quiz 100%, but I can't pretend I did it elegantly.

+3
Level 82
Aug 20, 2022
Yemen is a lot greener, wetter, and more mountainous than the rest of the Arabian peninsula. The topography creates more rainfall. Syria is not far enough south to be part of the Arabian desert, and, though not exactly lush, most of its northern territory is semi-arid shrubland. That's where agriculture originally started; not as desolate as these other places.

Large parts of Israel are only really habitable and amenable to agriculture because of the hard work put in by Zionist settlers and later Israelis to improve the land. Lots of complex well and irrigation systems and so forth but almost no natural rain.

Don't know about the others.

+4
Level 59
Aug 23, 2022
Having been to Botswana, I can say it's almost always sunny. To be fair I was there during the dry season, but in my 6 weeks in the country, I think it rained only twice (both times for less than 30 minutes). The country is suffering from it's lack of rain, a resource that it holds very precious (it's currency is named after it, and the blue on its flag represents it). The rain that fills the Okavango Delta mostly comes from the highlands in Angola.

South Africa did surprise me though.

+2
Level 69
Dec 9, 2022
Bah,rain. Not sure if the name's ironic, or appropriate.
+1
Level 33
Feb 1, 2024
Every JetPunk tests accepts 'uae' as an answer for United Arab Emirates. Why not here?
+1
Level 66
Mar 25, 2024
Expected Bah-rain to be on the top of this list