Higher or Lower: which of these two countries is above?

Two countries, one criterion, one question: which is ahead? The winner stays on, a new country steps in, and the chain runs until your first mistake.

Start a chain

How far will you get before the first mistake?

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GeoG Higher or Lower mode: which country has more UNESCO sites?

How it works

Two countries appear with a criterion — population, area, tourist arrivals, GDP — and you pick the one with the higher value.

The winning country stays on screen, a new challenger arrives, and the chain continues. A single mistake ends the run: the whole point is to go as far as you can.

The difficulty rises by itself, because the game gradually narrows the gaps. Comparing China and Luxembourg is trivial; comparing Kenya and Sudan on population is much less so. And the criterion changes on every question: a country that just won on area can lose the next round on tourism.

It is the mode that installs orders of magnitude best. After a few runs you instinctively know that Nigeria outweighs Germany on population, that Algeria is larger than Greenland, or that France receives more tourists than the United States.

All 195 countries ranked by population

The full ranking, from most to least populous, with area alongside. The two columns do not run in the same direction — which is exactly what makes the mode interesting: Canada is second in the world by area and thirty-eighth by population.

#	Country	Population	Area (km²)
1	India	1,450,935,791	3,287,260
2	China	1,408,975,000	9,562,910
3	United States	340,003,797	9,831,510
4	Indonesia	283,487,931	1,916,906.77
5	Pakistan	251,269,164	796,100
6	Nigeria	232,679,478	923,770
7	Brazil	211,998,573	8,510,420
8	Bangladesh	173,562,364	147,570
9	Russia	143,669,648	17,125,190
10	Ethiopia	132,059,767	1,136,239.7
11	Mexico	130,861,007	1,957,193.9
12	Japan	123,975,371	377,969.27
13	Egypt	116,538,258	1,001,450
14	Philippines	115,843,670	300,000
15	DR Congo	109,276,265	2,344,860
16	Vietnam	100,987,686	331,338.31
17	Iran	91,567,738	1,745,150
18	Turkey	85,518,661	785,350
19	Germany	83,516,593	357,680
20	Thailand	71,668,011	513,115.021
21	United Kingdom	69,281,000	243,610
22	Tanzania	68,560,157	947,300
23	France	68,551,653	606,410
24	South Africa	64,007,187	1,219,090
25	Italy	58,952,704	302,070
26	Kenya	56,432,944	591,969
27	Myanmar	54,500,091	676,590
28	Colombia	52,886,363	1,140,619.1
29	South Korea	51,751,065	100,450
30	Sudan	50,448,963	1,878,000
31	Uganda	50,015,092	241,550
32	Spain	48,848,840	505,975.98
33	Algeria	46,814,308	2,381,740
34	Iraq	46,042,015	435,050
35	Argentina	45,696,159	2,780,400
36	Afghanistan	42,647,492	652,870
37	Canada	41,262,329	15,634,410
38	Yemen	40,583,164	527,970
39	Morocco	38,081,173	446,550
40	Angola	37,885,849	1,246,700
41	Ukraine	37,860,221	603,550
42	Poland	36,559,233	313,930
43	Uzbekistan	36,361,859	448,920
44	Malaysia	35,557,673	330,411
45	Saudi Arabia	35,300,280	2,149,690
46	Mozambique	34,631,766	799,380
47	Ghana	34,427,414	238,539
48	Peru	34,217,848	1,285,215.6
49	Madagascar	31,964,956	587,295
50	Ivory Coast	31,934,230	322,460
51	Nepal	29,651,054	147,180
52	Cameroon	29,123,744	475,440
53	Venezuela	28,405,543	912,050
54	Australia	27,194,286	7,741,220
55	Niger	27,032,412	1,267,000
56	North Korea	26,498,823	120,540
57	Syria	24,672,760	185,180
58	Mali	24,478,595	1,240,190
59	Burkina Faso	23,548,781	274,200
60	Sri Lanka	21,916,000	65,610
61	Malawi	21,655,286	118,480
62	Zambia	21,314,956	752,610
63	Kazakhstan	20,592,571	2,724,902
64	Chad	20,299,123	1,284,000
65	Chile	19,764,771	757,244.88
66	Romania	19,051,804	238,400
67	Somalia	19,009,151	637,660
68	Senegal	18,501,984	196,710
69	Guatemala	18,406,359	108,890
70	Ecuador	18,135,478	256,370
71	Netherlands	17,993,485	41,540
72	Cambodia	17,638,801	181,040
73	Zimbabwe	16,634,373	390,760
74	Guinea	14,754,785	245,860
75	Benin	14,462,724	114,760
76	Rwanda	14,256,567	26,338
77	Burundi	14,047,786	27,830
78	Bolivia	12,413,315	1,098,580
79	Tunisia	12,277,109	163,610
80	South Sudan	11,943,408	646,883
81	Belgium	11,858,610	30,689
82	Haiti	11,772,557	27,750
83	Jordan	11,552,876	89,318
84	Dominican Republic	11,427,557	146,839.46
85	United Arab Emirates	10,986,400	98,647.9
86	Cuba	10,979,783	109,880
87	Czechia	10,905,028	78,871.43
88	Honduras	10,825,703	112,490
89	Portugal	10,694,681	92,230
90	Tajikistan	10,590,927	141,379
91	Papua New Guinea	10,576,502	462,840
92	Sweden	10,569,709	528,660
93	Greece	10,405,134	131,960
94	Azerbaijan	10,202,830	86,600
95	Israel	10,002,200	22,070
96	Hungary	9,562,065	93,030
97	Austria	9,177,982	83,879
98	Belarus	9,132,629	207,629
99	Switzerland	9,005,582	41,290.7
100	Sierra Leone	8,642,022	72,300
101	Togo	8,406,558	56,790
102	Laos	7,769,819	236,800
103	Turkmenistan	7,494,498	491,209
104	Libya	7,381,023	1,759,540
105	Kyrgyzstan	7,221,868	199,950
106	Paraguay	6,929,153	406,752
107	Nicaragua	6,916,140	130,370
108	Serbia	6,586,476	84,990
109	Bulgaria	6,441,421	110,996.758
110	El Salvador	6,338,193	21,040
111	Republic of the Congo	6,332,961	342,000
112	Singapore	6,036,860	728
113	Denmark	5,976,992	42,920
114	Lebanon	5,805,962	10,450
115	Finland	5,619,911	338,480
116	Liberia	5,612,817	111,370
117	Norway	5,572,279	624,500
118	Slovakia	5,422,069	49,030
119	Ireland	5,395,790	70,280
120	Central African Republic	5,330,690	622,980
121	New Zealand	5,290,000	267,710
122	Palestine	5,289,152	6,025
123	Oman	5,281,538	309,500
124	Mauritania	5,169,395	1,030,700
125	Costa Rica	5,129,910	51,100
126	Kuwait	4,897,263	17,820
127	Panama	4,515,577	75,320
128	Croatia	3,866,200	88,070
129	Georgia	3,812,518	69,700
130	Eritrea	3,535,603	121,765.8
131	Mongolia	3,524,788	1,564,115.75
132	Uruguay	3,386,588	176,220
133	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,164,253	51,210
134	Armenia	3,033,500	29,740
135	Namibia	3,030,131	824,290
136	Lithuania	2,888,278	65,290
137	Qatar	2,857,822	11,490
138	Jamaica	2,839,175	10,990
139	Gambia	2,759,988	11,300
140	Gabon	2,538,952	267,670
141	Botswana	2,521,139	581,730
142	Moldova	2,402,306	33,850
143	Albania	2,377,128	28,750
144	Lesotho	2,337,423	30,360
145	Guinea-Bissau	2,201,352	36,130
146	Slovenia	2,127,400	20,480
147	Equatorial Guinea	1,892,516	28,050
148	Latvia	1,866,124	64,590
149	North Macedonia	1,824,359	25,710
150	Bahrain	1,588,670	800
151	Timor-Leste	1,400,638	14,870
152	Estonia	1,372,341	45,340
153	Trinidad and Tobago	1,368,333	5,130
154	Cyprus	1,358,282	9,250
155	Mauritius	1,245,779	2,010
156	Eswatini	1,242,822	17,360
157	Djibouti	1,168,722	23,200
158	Fiji	928,784	18,270
159	Comoros	866,628	1,861
160	Guyana	831,087	214,970
161	Solomon Islands	819,198	28,900
162	Bhutan	791,524	38,390
163	Luxembourg	677,012	2,590
164	Suriname	634,431	163,820
165	Montenegro	623,525	13,888
166	Malta	568,847	320
167	Maldives	527,799	300
168	Cape Verde	524,877	4,030
169	Brunei	462,721	5,770
170	Belize	417,072	22,966
171	Bahamas	401,283	13,880
172	Iceland	386,506	103,000
173	Vanuatu	327,777	12,190
174	Barbados	282,467	430
175	São Tomé and Príncipe	235,536	960
176	Samoa	218,019	2,840
177	Saint Lucia	179,744	620
178	Kiribati	134,518	810
179	Seychelles	121,354	460
180	Grenada	117,207	340
181	Micronesia	113,160	700
182	Tonga	104,175	750
183	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	100,616	390
184	Antigua and Barbuda	93,772	440
185	Andorra	81,938	470
186	Dominica	66,205	750
187	Saint Kitts and Nevis	46,843	260
188	Liechtenstein	40,450	160
189	Monaco	38,631	74.9
190	Marshall Islands	37,548	180
191	San Marino	33,977	60
192	Palau	17,695	460
193	Nauru	11,947	20
194	Tuvalu	9,646	30
195	Vatican City	882	0.49

Frequently asked

Does the criterion change every question?

Yes. A country that just won on population can lose the next round on area or tourism. That is what stops you playing on autopilot.

How many mistakes can you make?

One: the run ends on the first error. The score is the length of the chain.

Which criteria are used?

The same 41 as Rankle: population, area, GDP, tourism, coastline length, UNESCO sites, and about thirty other public indicators.

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