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Smallest Countries Bordering Each Other

Name the countries with the smallest land area that border each other.
Methodology: Each country is ranked 1-196 based on land area
We chose the countries that border each other with lowest average rank
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 27, 2022
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First submittedNovember 16, 2017
Times taken66,635
Average score76.0%
Rating4.51
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Avg
Countries
161
Switzerland
Liechtenstein
157.5
Kosovo
Montenegro
155.5
Israel
Lebanon
153
Belgium
Luxembourg
152
Kosovo
North Macedonia
152
Austria
Liechtenstein
151
Albania
Kosovo
149.5
Albania
Montenegro
145
Burundi
Rwanda
144
Albania
North Macedonia
140.5
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Montenegro
Avg
Countries
139.5
Croatia
Montenegro
137
Croatia
Slovenia
136.5
Kosovo
Serbia
135
Montenegro
Serbia
135
Belgium
Netherlands
134.5
Dominican Republic
Haiti
134
Italy
Vatican City
132
Italy
San Marino
132
Austria
Slovenia
130
Israel
Jordan
130
Hungary
Slovenia
+75
Level 67
Nov 16, 2017
I thought Italy was too big for this quiz!!!
+40
Level 62
Nov 16, 2017
There's a lot of skew towards being the smallest of the small. Even though there is only 10,000 mi^2 between Vatican and Lebanon, Vatican is about 35 placements lower. You could stick Vatican next to Vietnam (rank 65, 331,000 mi^2) and still end up on this list
+6
Level 70
Oct 22, 2020
@Darkbull09BvB no, he's saying that the countries are ordered by mean rank, not by combined area.
+4
Level 77
Nov 17, 2017
My thought exactly! That's interesting.
+1
Level 74
Jun 15, 2018
Same for me. Either the initial premise for the quiz is wrong or the answers are wrong in a couple of cases. The quiz suggest two small countries that share a border such as Rwanda and Burundi but somehow you included Monaco (borders with France and Italy), San Marino and Vatican City (both Italy) and I don't regard either France or Italy as being small bordering countries. Can you explain where I'm going wrong?
+3
Level 63
Jun 15, 2018
its the combined land area of both coountries
+32
Level 63
Jun 15, 2018
The quiz is based on the average rank of the two bordering countries, so bordering a very small country can skew the average pretty low.
+32
Level 77
Sep 28, 2018
Monaco does not have a border with Italy.
+1
Level 65
Mar 13, 2023
The Ivory Coast is larger than Italy. Even the two "small" countries of Rwanda and Burundi are each only a little less than a tenth of Italy's area, while Vatican City is around 50,000 times smaller than each of them.
+1
Level 19
Jul 26, 2023
Monaco doesn't border italy
+1
Level 65
Sep 13, 2023
The fact that you think that Monaco borders Italy is proof that you're not qualified enough to be here.
+4
Level 72
Nov 17, 2017
Another surprised to see Italy and a certain Balkan country on the list.
+20
Level 76
Nov 17, 2017
I suggest 'inverting' the average rank so that 1 is the smallest country (this would also make it coherent with the instructions as they ask for the lowest average)
+27
Level 75
Nov 20, 2017
I really thought a few of the West African countries would make this list.
+22
Level 75
Sep 30, 2019
Yes, I was suprised not to find Benin-Togo on this list
+3
Level 79
Oct 22, 2020
Me too
+11
Level 75
Jan 28, 2022
I thought Senegal-Gambia would be here.
+2
Level 75
Oct 7, 2023
Italy + Vatican area = 301,340 km squared (that's just the area of Italy, I didn't bother including Vatican tbh!) =AVERAGE 301,340/2 = 150,670 km squared.

Senegal + Gambia area = 196,712 + 11,300 = 208,012 km squared. =AVERAGE 208,012/2 = 104,006 km squared.

Can someone please explain where my maths is wrong? Is it the sea area of Italy or something?

EDIT: Oh, I see it's the RANK that matters, not the average land area. Still Senegal/Gambia must be very close. It's a very weird system that excludes them considering they've nearly 60,000km2 less area than Italy/Vatican. Should be done on average land area of the two countries imo, so as not to include big countries that border tiny countries.

+1
Level 60
Oct 7, 2023
If it was by land, the land of the smaller country would be fairly obsolete.
+5
Level 59
Mar 11, 2022
West Africa is much larger than it seems on a map. Mercator, etc.
+1
Level 67
Oct 7, 2023
Or Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia
+9
Level 71
Nov 20, 2017
The first countries I typed were Benin, Togo. Facts are baffling sometimes.
+26
Level 77
Nov 21, 2017
me too. That Mercator projection has got us all screwed up. I watched a video the other day that showed how we could build a road around the world and how long it would take to drive it. Essentially, they said it would take 7 days to go from Cape Town to Cairo, and then another 7 days to go from Cairo all the way to the eastern tip of Russia. Looking at a Mercator map, that seems completely ridiculous. Yet here we are.
+1
Level 45
Jun 1, 2018
its not like we can use globe gores! haha
+3
Level 77
Jan 27, 2022
The weirdness of the included countries isn't because of the Mercator projection. It's because the methodology takes the ranks of the countries out of 196 rather than their combined land area. For instance, the land area of Italy is twice as large as the combined area of Guetamala and El Salvador. So you have to think of only the rank each country has when taking this quiz more than actual land area.
+2
Level 59
Mar 11, 2022
Well it’s also because of the Mercator. If you were looking at a Mercator than Benin and Togo certainly look like they fit. The methodology just adds more weirdness to it.
+1
Level 46
Feb 1, 2018
I know! so strange.
+6
Level 65
Feb 5, 2018
"We chose the countries that border each other with lowest average rank"

The lowest average rank gives the largest countries. I think it should be changed to "highest average rank"

+3
Level 43
Feb 10, 2018
Eritrea and Djibouti?
+2
Level 73
Feb 17, 2018
Eritrea = 99, Djibouti = 147, so average is too low for this list.
+1
Level 73
Mar 21, 2018
Fascinating how this quiz worked out. Good job!
+7
Level 58
Apr 4, 2018
You're actually not looking for smallest countries bordering each other but tiny countries bordering to a rather small one. Thus leading to the strange effect that Italy appears twice on that list, but the Baltics don't...
+22
Level 66
May 23, 2018
It might be worth ranking them by lowest total area of the two countries.
+14
Level 40
Jun 15, 2018
Yeah, that would make much more sense.
+4
Level 28
Jun 16, 2018
You'd get similar results, but I'd wager that countries like France and Italy wouldn't show up
+5
Level 77
Jan 27, 2022
Yes, that would be the more logical way to find small countries that border each other. This methodology tells us more about the distribution of land area of countries. For instance, you could fit both El Salvador and Guatemala into just Italy. Obviously El Salvador and Guatemala are a smaller pair of countries than Italy and the Vatican, but the methodology of the quiz just makes it about the rank and distribution than actual "smallness". As is, it is probably a bit easier since we have all practiced the country sized rankings from those quizzes.
+4
Level 65
Jun 15, 2018
Hello, good quiz. I am quite surprised not to see France and Monaco, as well as France and/or Spain and Andorra.
+1
Level 66
Feb 28, 2022
Andorra is actually not so small, compared to Monaco or Vatican City, which are just cities. Andorra has multiple of them.
+1
Level 82
Jun 15, 2018
Slightly more challenging than the biggest bordering countries quiz, but still easy.
+2
Level 60
Jun 15, 2018
The ranking system makes it more of guessing tiny countries with land borders, then guessing their smallest bordering countries. Perhaps ranking pairs by sum or product of areas would give a set of top twenty pairs which are actually small
+2
Level 44
Jun 15, 2018
IT IS NOW CALLED NORTHERN MACEDONIA!!!!! (sry, I'm Greek) I JUST WANT THE CONTREVERSY TO BE OVER!
+2
Level 71
Jun 16, 2018
what the...
+9
Level 82
Jun 17, 2018
Then stop fussing about it and just let the people decide what to call their own country. Or start referring to Greece as FOROG so that you don't seem biased.
+4
Level 70
Sep 16, 2019
Ottoman?
+2
Level 77
Feb 28, 2022
I’m going to start calling my driveway Macedonia.
+4
Level 28
Jun 16, 2018
I had three left and went for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania... But I was on the wrong continent entirely!
+9
Level 88
Jun 18, 2018
I would have thought more central american countries would be in here
+1
Level 75
Oct 7, 2023
If the quiz was done by average area then there would be at least Belize/Guatemala, maybe others.
+1
Level 21
Jun 28, 2018
Am I missing something in the rules? What about Togo (56.785km2), Benin (112.622 km2), Ghana (238.533 km2) and Burkina Faso (274 000km2), all smaller than italy (301 338km2) and bordering at least one of the others?
+4
Level 66
Jul 2, 2019
It is the average of ranks, as said in the description, not the average of the surface area itself.
+1
Level 55
Dec 31, 2018
what about Togo-Benin?
+3
Level 57
Aug 30, 2019
Italy is here but the Baltic countries and Togo, Benin, Ghana etc. arent? That seems odd
+1
Level 66
Feb 28, 2022
Vatican City and San Marino are **very** small, so much that they drop the average with Italy lower than the one of Togo and Benin
+5
Level 47
Sep 1, 2019
I was very surprised Liberia + Sierra Leone, Gambia + Senegal, Togo + Benin, and the Baltics not to be on here
+3
Level 50
Jan 29, 2020
Shocked that both Sierra Leone and Liberia, El Salvador and Honduras were not on it
+1
Level 57
Jul 10, 2020
Misspelled Dominican Republic with 1 second left smh.
+1
Level 62
Feb 28, 2022
DR is only two letters long; which one did you get wrong‽
+1
Level 43
Aug 21, 2020
Only missed Rwanda and Burundi.
+1
Level 82
Oct 22, 2020
Balkanization ftw
+1
Level 78
Nov 4, 2020
I had many many gaps to fill with 90 seconds to go, and only then did I think of Kosovo, and the rest....
+3
Level 24
Oct 22, 2020
Kosovo is not a country
+4
Level 68
Oct 22, 2020
Sure it is.
+3
Level 78
Nov 18, 2021
Whether or not you personally believe it is, JetPunk consistently recognizes it as such. Same with Taiwan (which is recognized), Palestine (which is not recognized), etc.
+3
Level 68
Oct 22, 2020
The breakup of Yugoslavia sure made geography interesting!
+1
Level 46
Oct 22, 2020
Oooh got it with one second to spare! Nice quiz.
+1
Level 62
Oct 22, 2020
Would make more sense if it were calculated using average area rather than average rank.
+1
Level 49
Oct 25, 2020
Very surprising that the countries of the Baltics and western Africa aren't here.
+1
Level 58
Dec 3, 2020
I know I tried both of them but they just said no...
+1
Level 68
May 26, 2021
Clutched it up with 1 second left!
+1
Level 79
Jan 27, 2022
Similar, finally guessed Italy with 5 seconds to go and managed to type in the last to micronations with 2 seconds left on the clock
+1
Level 69
Sep 22, 2021
I've never realised that Belgium and the Netherlands are smaller by area than the Baltic states.
+2
Level 81
Jan 28, 2022
Wouldn't smallest combined surface area be a more intuitive metric? It probably wouldn't change the list all that much, but somehow a fact like "these two countries together have an area of 30,000 km2" has a bit more real-world significance than "these two countries would be the 132th largest country on average".
+1
Level 82
Feb 4, 2022
or maybe just list the combined surface area with the rankings?
+1
Level 58
Jan 28, 2022
Turkey and Azerbaijan, Palestinian Territories and Egypt Western Saharan Territories and Algeria also Iran and Armenia,Burkina Faso and Togo, Niger and Benin, Congo Brazzaville and Angola,Tanzania and Malawi,Eswatini and Mozambique and Afghanistan and China,Chile and Peru, (some of them might be on the quiz but if some of the above are not,I would recommend adding them,thanks) Also France and Netherlands (Saint Martin island split)
+1
Level 43
Apr 20, 2022
This quiz is the smallest countries that border, NOT the smallest borders.
+1
Level 77
Jan 29, 2022
Thank you, Balkans, very cool!
+1
Level 63
Feb 28, 2022
All except DR and Haiti smh. Even after trying several Central American countries.
+1
Level 48
Feb 28, 2022
Great quiz 25/25 with 1 second left!
+1
Level 81
Feb 28, 2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanization
+1
Level 35
Feb 28, 2022
There's a number of West African countries that should be included (Benin/Togo, Senegal/Gambia, Equatorial Guinea/Gabon, Guinea/Guinea Bassau), and if we're counting small countries within/bordering larger ones I think Lesotho/South Africa/Eswatini/Mozambique should be included.
+2
Level 55
Feb 28, 2022
It is the average of ranks, as said in the description, not the actual size of the nations.
+1
Level 59
Mar 1, 2022
Took me way too long to work get to balkans and towards Switzerland 😂
+1
Level 63
Mar 3, 2022
Why not East Timor and Indonesia? Or Brunei and Indonesia?
+1
Level 78
Jan 6, 2023
Because Indonesia is the 14th largest country by land area, and averaging their rank with Brunei (164th) or East Timor (154th) would not put them on the list.
+1
Level 58
Apr 19, 2022
Fun fact: If Vatican City borders Finland, the 65th largest country in the world, they will still be on the list.
+1
Level 46
Apr 21, 2022
How about Panama and Costa Rica?
+1
Level 16
Nov 8, 2022
Can you allow Vatican City for Vatican City cause it only allows Holy See
+1
Level 52
Nov 9, 2022
Shocked that Guyana and Suriname isn't on here!
+1
Level 78
Jan 6, 2023
This was mentally stimulating
+1
Level 87
Jan 24, 2023
Italy is NOT a small country. WTF? LOL.
+1
Level 60
Feb 21, 2023
22/25 Italy? Really? That's why I didn't bother putting San marino & Vatican.
+1
Level 47
Oct 7, 2023
what about Belize and El Salvador? Gambia, Guinea Bissau?
+1
Level 63
Oct 7, 2023
None of those countries border each other.
+2
Level 75
Oct 7, 2023
Lots of people are confused about the ranking system - can QM at least give his reasoning for using the average rank of the countries rather than the average area of the countries please? I've marked this comment as a suggestion for QM in the hope that there will at least be an explanation. I'm sure there is a good one.
+1
Level 73
Oct 7, 2023
It's consistent with similar quizzes on this website
+1
Level 32
Oct 7, 2023
beat it w/ 4 seconds to spare :)
+1
Level 57
Oct 10, 2023
I literally forgot Europe existed until like 1 minute left but still got all of it with 10 seconds left.
+2
Level 35
Oct 18, 2023
though Palestina is omitted , a bloody reminder of colonisation that goes under the name 'israel' is required .

Guess i'll never be able to understand civilisation .