Random Country Generator

How to Use the Random Country Generator

1. 1. Choose the continents. All six are ticked to begin with. Untick the ones you do not want, or tick just one to practise a region.
2. 2. Decide on the observer states. The Holy See and Palestine are not UN members, so they stay out of the pool unless you tick the box.
3. 3. Set how many. From 1 to 195. No repeats gives a different country each time; untick it and every draw is independent.
4. 4. Try quiz mode. It hides each capital behind a Show capital button, so you can guess before you look.
5. 5. Press the button, then copy. Copy as table puts country, capital, continent and ISO code on the clipboard, tab-separated, ready for a spreadsheet.

Which Countries Are in the List

The pool is the 193 member states of the United Nations, in the form the UN’s own member-states list gives them. The Holy See and the State of Palestine have permanent observer status — they take part in the General Assembly but do not vote — and can be added with one tick. That makes 195 entries in all.

The list deliberately follows UN membership because it is a public, checkable rule rather than a judgement about which places count as countries. It therefore leaves out places that are not UN members, whatever their status in practice: Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara, the Cook Islands and Niue, and dependent territories such as Greenland, Puerto Rico or Hong Kong. Use another list if your task needs them.

Continents and Capitals

There is no single agreed list of continents, so the tool says which model it uses: seven continents, with each country assigned to one, following the UN geoscheme. North America includes Central America and the Caribbean, and Oceania includes Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific island states. Antarctica has no countries; the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 suspends territorial claims there. Countries that straddle a boundary appear under one continent with an also note.

Capitals are the governments’ own designations. A handful of countries split the roles of capital between cities, and for those the tool lists each city with its role: South Africa has an executive capital in Pretoria, a legislative capital in Cape Town and a judicial capital in Bloemfontein; Bolivia’s constitutional capital is Sucre while its government sits in La Paz; Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Sri Lanka and Burundi divide the roles too. The Netherlands’ capital is Amsterdam, though the government sits in The Hague. Equatorial Guinea decreed Ciudad de la Paz its new capital in January 2026, with a one-year transition for state bodies, so Malabo still houses some institutions. Israel designates Jerusalem as its capital; the status of Jerusalem is disputed, and most states keep their embassies elsewhere. Palestine has declared East Jerusalem its capital, and its government sits in Ramallah.

How the Draw Works

Each press uses your browser’s cryptographic random source (crypto.getRandomValues) with rejection sampling, so every country in the pool is exactly as likely as any other. Without repeats the tool shuffles the pool with the Fisher–Yates method and takes the first few, which gives every possible set of countries the same probability.

Because the pool is a list of countries, not of people, a random pick treats Tuvalu and India alike. That is the point for a geography game and the wrong answer if you want a sample weighted by population or land area.

Ideas for Using It

• Geography practice. Pick ten capitals in quiz mode and say them aloud before pressing Show capital. Restrict to one continent for focused revision.
• Assignments. Give each student or group a different country for a presentation or research report. Draw with No repeats to guarantee no two are the same; the Group Generator forms the groups.
• Writing and games. Choose a setting for a story, a destination for a travel game or the next country on a map challenge.
• Sources. If your project cites a map or a country report, the Map Citation Generator formats the reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many countries are in the random country generator?

193, the member states of the United Nations, plus two optional observer states, the Holy See and Palestine. The observers are off by default so the pool matches UN membership.

Why isn’t Taiwan or Kosovo included?

Neither is a UN member or observer, and the generator uses UN membership as its rule. Countries recognise both in different ways, and the tool takes no position by leaving them to a list built for that purpose.

How do I get a random capital city?

Draw a country and read its capital from the table, or turn on quiz mode so the capital is hidden until you press Show capital. Set the number to 1 for a single question.

How do I get a random country in Europe, Asia or another continent?

Untick every continent except the one you want. The Countries in the pool figure shows how many are left, for example 43 for Europe or 14 for Oceania.

Which continent is Russia, or Türkiye, in?

Following the UN geoscheme, Russia is placed in Europe and Türkiye in Asia, and each carries an also note for the other continent. Atlases and encyclopedias differ on transcontinental countries, so check the convention your course uses.

Is the pick truly random?

Yes. It uses the browser’s cryptographic generator, and every country in the pool has the same chance. A pick is not weighted by population, size or fame.

Is the capital list up to date?

It reflects capitals as of 2026, including Equatorial Guinea’s move to Ciudad de la Paz. Capitals change rarely; if you cite one in schoolwork, confirm it in the country’s official sources.