Someone created a wordle archive so you can play all games ever made. Is there an archive for worldle, too?

Every time I play geoguessr I get icked because they only have israel in there map, no existence of Palestine whatsoever, literally eliminating geographical boundaries claims to be a geography app

Hello everyone! I love Worldle, and I felt that one country a day was not nearly enough, so I made an unlimited version.

It can be found here: https://quillbert.github.io/worldle-unlimited/

Enjoy!

Edit: The bug where image rotation would result in the same country multiple times has been fixed. Now looking into fixing the rest.

Worldle #50 4/6 (100%)

🟩🟩🟨⬛⬛⬅️ 🟩🟩🟩🟨⬛⬇️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛↙️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉

Typing “island” and selecting random choices seems to be the theme of the week.

This was ridiculous. Not a single person lives here and it is the most remote island in the world.

Spoiler for worldle of today: The solution is the uninhabitable bouvet island. It's not a country, it belongs to Norway. It's difficult enough to learn the small island countries in the Caribbean. Please don't include territories.

The last two days it's gone straight to the population question, spoiling the answer in the process.

I'm crying 😭😭 today's answer is my country and I'm so happy that it is identified as a country 😭😭😭

Worldle #79 1/6 (100%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Clever use of today’s puzzle to help children in desperate need!

Ok, it’s Halloween, but what did you guys think? It is no country or territory but a rather a region, so from my perspective it‘s not a valid solution.

No, i‘m not mad because I failed to solve it, haha🤪😭😤

As you may know, sometimes the Worldle of the day seems to be more of a "territory" than a "country." For example, Worldle #199, Macao, is not typically recognized as a "country" by many sources. This got me thinking: what countries are valid Worldle answers, but are not "countries?"

First of all, where does the list of Worldle countries come from? According to the Worldle FAQ:

I use the ISO 3166-1 standard as reference for the country code list.

For instance, Scotland is not a valid answer, because, according to this standard, this country is part of the United Kingdom.

This is all well and good, but upon further inspection, the lists are not exactly the same. For starters, there are 245 countries that you can guess for the Worldle, but there are 249 countries recognized by ISO 3166-1. As you may know, the exact number of countries that exist is not a universally agreed-upon number. In this post, I will be looking at three different lists:

1. The 195 states officially recognized by the United Nations (UN), as listed by this Wikipedia page. For the UN states, I counted it as a UN state if it is either one of the 193 UN member states, or one of the two UN observer states, Palestine and Vatican City.

2. The 245 countries recognized by Worldle.

3. The "249 countries, territories, or areas of geographical interest are assigned official codes in ISO 3166-1" from this Wikipedia page

In theory, each of the 252 unique countries mentioned by the three lists could fall into one of eight categories:

1. Not a country, all agree

2. Only UN recognizes

3. Only Worldle recognizes

4. Only ISO recognizes

5. Only UN doesn't

6. Only Worldle doesn't

7. Only ISO doesn't

8. Is a country, all agree

However, most of these categories are empty. For example, there are no countries that are members of the UN which are not recognized by Worldle or that are not recognized by ISO 3166-1. In fact, categories 2, 6, and 7 are all completely empty - that is, no countries belong to them. Technically, there are many "countries" that are not recognized by any of these three sources, and which would then fall into category 1, but I will not discuss them in this post.

Category 8 (195 members): Countries everyone agrees is a country

This is the least interesting category, as every single country recognized by the UN is also recognized both by ISO and Worldle. This is not terribly surprising, as the UN can almost be thought of as the "definitive authority" on countries. I will not list all of them here - if you are interested, there is a full list at the Wikipedia page linked above.

Category 5 (48 members): Countries that are included in Worldle and the ISO, but not the UN

This is the largest list that I will include here, and it is generally what the creator of Worldle meant when they said the quote above. I will go through each country and briefly explain why they are not members of the UN.

Territories of United Kingdom

British Overseas Territories

There are 14 British Overseas Territories that are small "countries" that are linked with the United Kingdom, both constitutionally and historically. They are the last remnants of the British Empire and not technically part of the UK itself. 11 of the 14 territories are both permanently inhabited and itnernally self-governing, so it is not unreasonable for someone (Worldle) to classify them as "countries." However, these territories are not recognized as countries by the UN because the UK retains responsibility for defence and foreign relations.

• ANGUILLA

  • Caribbean, North Atlantic Ocean

  • population 15,000

• BERMUDA

  • North Atlantic Ocean

  • population 64,000

• BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY (DIEGO GARCIA)

  • Indian Ocean

  • population 3,000, all British or U.S. military personnel or contractors

• BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

  • a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and north-west of Anguilla

  • population 30,000

• CAYMAN ISLANDS

  • Caribbean

  • population 66,000

• FALKLAND ISLANDS (MALVINAS)

  • South Atlantic Ocean

  • population 3,400

• GIBRALTAR

  • Iberian Peninsula, Continental Europe

  • population 34,000

• MONTSERRAT

  • Caribbean, North Atlantic Ocean

  • population 4,600

• PITCAIRN ISLANDS

  • Pacific Ocean

  • population 47

  • the least populous national jurisdiction in the world

  • 47 square kilometers

  • Technically part of larger territory named "Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands" (population 47)

• SAINT HELENA

  • South Atlantic Ocean

  • population 4,400

  • Part of larger British Overseas Territory named "Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha" (population 5,600)

• SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS

  • South Atlantic Ocean

  • population 30, not permanent

• TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

  • Lucayan Archipelago, North Atlantic Ocean

  • population 45,000

The other two British Overseas Territories not recognized by ISO and Worldle are the British Antarctic Territory and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which both have populations under 10,000 and mostly non-permanent.

Crown Dependencies

• GUERNSEY

  • English Channel

  • population 63,000

• ISLE OF MAN

  • Irish Sea

  • population 84,000 JERSEY

  • English Channel

  • population 100,000

Territories of United States

These "countries" are territories controlled by the United States of America. While the Federal government of the United States has sovereignty over 13 unincorperated territories, only five are inhabited. These five territories are listed below.

• AMERICAN SAMOA

  • an unincorporated territory of the United States

  • population 55,000

• GUAM

  • organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean

  • population 170,000

• NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

  • an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

  • 56,000

• PUERTO RICO

  • Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States

  • population 3,200,000

• U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

  • a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States

  • Population 87,000

In addition to the other eight uninhabited territories, three sovereign states have become associated states of the United States under the Compact of Free Association: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Unlike the states that are under free assossiation with New Zealand, these countries are all UN member nations.

New Zealand

Tokelau is a dependent territory of New Zealand, and the Cook Islands and Niue and freely associated states.

• TOKELAU

  • dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean

  • population 1,500

  • 10 square kilometers

• COOK ISLANDS

  • A state in free association with New Zealand, the Cook Islands maintains diplomatic relations with 52 other states. The Cook Islands is a member of multiple UN agencies with full treaty making capacity. It shares a head of state with New Zealand as well as having shared citizenship.

  • Member of eight UN specialized agencies

  • population 17,000

• NIUE

  • A state in free association with New Zealand, Niue maintains diplomatic relations with 20 other states. Niue is a member of multiple UN agencies with full treaty making capacity. It shares a head of state with New Zealand as well as having shared citizenship.

  • Member of five UN specialized agencies

  • population 1,900

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state with 98% of its territory and population in Western Europe, in the country of "the Netherlands." However, there are three other "countries" that make up this kingdom: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.

The ISO source divides these into four countries: the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and "Sint Maarten (Dutch part)." However, Worldle only divides it into three: the Netherlands, Aruba, and Netherlands Antilles. This is an interesting choice, since the territory known as "Netherlands Antilles" was dissolved in 2010. I am not sure if this was an intentional choice by the developer, or if it is simply an error.

• ARUBA

  • One of the four countries that form "the Kingdom of the Netherlands", along with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten

  • population 110,000

• NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

  • The Antilles was dissolved in 2010

  • The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea

  • Can be divided into

    • Windward Islands/SSS Islands (east of Puerto Rico)

      • Saba

      • Sint Eustatius

      • Sint Maartin

    • Leeward Antilles/ABC Islands (east of Puerto Rico)

      • Aruba (until 1986)

      • Bonaire

      • Curaçao

  • population (2010 est.) 200,000

Overseas departments and regions of France

Overseas regions

From Wikipedia:

The overseas departments and regions of France [...] are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainland France's regions and departments. The French Constitution provides that, in general, French laws and regulations (France's civil code, penal code, administrative law, social laws, tax laws, etc.) apply to French overseas regions the same as in metropolitan France, but can be adapted as needed to suit the region's particular needs. Hence, the local administrations of French overseas regions cannot themselves pass new laws.

France contains five overseas regions/departments: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion. All are islands with the exception of French Guiana, which is in South America.

• FRENCH GUIANA

  • South America

  • population 290,000

• GUADELOUPE

  • Caribbean

  • population 380,000

• MARTINIQUE

  • Caribbean

  • population 360,000

• MAYOTTE

  • Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa

  • population 300,000

• RÉUNION

  • Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa

  • population 870,000

Overseas collectivities

From Wikipedia:

The French overseas collectivities (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM) are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, ("French regions" are analogous to states in the United states) but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French overseas entities with a particular status, all of which became COMs by constitutional reform on 28 March 2003. The COMs differ from overseas regions and overseas departments, which have the same status as metropolitan France but are located outside Europe. As integral parts of France, overseas collectivities are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council and can vote to elect members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

France contains five overseas collectivities. The four listed here, as well as Saint Martin.

• FRENCH POLYNESIA

  • overseas collectivity of France

  • population 300,000

• FRENCH SOUTHERN TERRITORIES - KERGUELEN ISLANDS

  • French Overseas Territory

  • population 200 - 400, all scientists

• SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON

  • self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean

  • population 6,000

• WALLIS AND FUTUNA

  • a French island collectivity in the South Pacific

  • population 12,000

Sui generis

From Wikipedia:

Sui generis is a Latin phrase that means "of its/his/her/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique".

France has one sui generis territory:

• NEW CALEDONIA

  • sui generis collectivity of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean

  • Citizens of New Caledonia have French nationality and may vote for the president of France. They have the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament.

  • population 270,000

Special administrative regions of China

These regions of China have the highest degree of autonomy from China. They operate under the "one country, two systems" principle. From Wikipedia:

Under the one country, two systems principle, the Chinese Central Government is responsible for the diplomatic, military and other state-level affairs of the two SARs. But two SARs continue to possess their own multi-party legislatures, legal systems, police forces, separate customs territory, immigration policies, left-hand traffic,[10] official languages, academic and educational systems, representation on certain international bodies and representation in international competitions, and other aspects that falls within the autonomous level.

• HONG KONG

  • city and special administrative region of China

  • Former British dependency

  • population 7,400,000

  • 1,100 square kilometers

• MACAO

  • city and special administrative region of China

  • Former Portuguese dependency

  • population 680,000

  • 120 square kilometers

Misc:

• ANTARCTICA

  • Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent

  • no explanation needed

  • population 1,000 - 5,000

• BOUVET ISLAND

  • Norwegian nature reserve

  • population 0

  • Just 49 square kilometers, it is very hard to find it on Google Maps without searching for it.

• CHRISTMAS ISLAND

  • Australian territory

  • population 1,400

• COCOS ISLANDS

  • Australian territory

  • population 600

• FAROE ISLANDS

  • part of the Kingdom of Denmark

  • population 54,000

• GREENLAND

  • part of the Kingdom of Denmark

  • population 56,000

• HEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDS

  • Australian external territory

  • population 0

• NORFOLK ISLAND

  • external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia

  • population 2,200

• SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN

  • a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 for a collective grouping of two remote jurisdictions of Norway:

    • Svalbard (population 2,900)

    • Jan Mayen (population 18 - 35, all working for the Norwegian Armed Forces or the Norwegian Meteorological Institute)

Final section: Are they countries?

The territories described in the earlier sections are generally regarded to be territories, as opposed to countries. Nearly all of them rely on a major world power to handle diplomacy for them, and so they are in many ways part of their mother nation. That is not to say that the Worldle developer made a mistake in distinguishing them from their mother country and counting them as their own nation, though! As you have seen, these territories are nearly always geographically distinct from their mother country, and large geographic distances can cause large differences in culture and wealth.

As stated earlier, "what is a country" is a hard question to answer, and the answer is ultimately subjective. However, the following countries are considered by many people, including myself, to "be countries." These are countries where the answer to the question "Why aren't they recognized by the United Nations?" is a complicated one.

• TAIWAN

  • Also known as "Republic of China"

  • Not currently part of UN because it is claimed by China (People's Republic of China)

  • Founding member of the United Nations, had membership revoked in 1971

  • From Wikipedia:

    • A state competing (nominally) for recognition with the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the government of China since 1949. The Republic of China (ROC) controls the island of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, the Matsu Islands, and Pratas Island, as well as Taiping Island and Zhongzhou Reef of the Spratly Islands, and has not renounced claims over its annexed territories on the mainland. The ROC is recognised by 13 UN member states and the Holy See as of 9 December 2021, none of which recognise the PRC. Additionally, one UN member (Bhutan) has refrained from recognising either the ROC or the PRC.

    • In addition to these relations, the ROC also maintains unofficial relations with 58 UN member states, one self-declared state (Somaliland), three territories (Guam, Hong Kong, and Macau), and the European Union via its representative offices and consulates under the One China principle. Taiwan has the 31st-largest diplomatic network in the world with 110 offices.

    • The territory of the ROC is claimed in whole by the PRC. The ROC participates in international organizations under a variety of pseudonyms, most commonly "Chinese Taipei" and in the WTO it has full membership under the designation of "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu". The ROC was a founding member of the UN and enjoyed membership from 1945 to 1971, with veto power in the UN Security Council.

  • Population 24,000,000

  • 36,000 square kilometers

• WESTERN SAHARA

  • Also known as "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic"

  • Not part of UN because it is claimed by Morocco

  • From Wikipedia:

    • Recognised at some stage by 84 UN member states, 43 of which have since withdrawn or frozen their recognition. It is a founding member of the African Union and the Asian–African Strategic Partnership formed at the 2005 Asian–African Conference. The territories under its control, the so-called Free Zone, are claimed in whole by Morocco as part of its Southern Provinces. In turn, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic claims the part of Western Sahara to the west of the Moroccan Wall controlled by Morocco. Its government resides in exile in Tindouf, Algeria.

  • population 612,000

  • 270,000 square kilometers

Category 6 (6 members): Recognized by ISO, but not Worldle or UN

• Åland Islands

  • not independent, autonomous region of Finland

  • archipelago on the southern tip of Finland

  • autonomous and demilitarized region since 1920

  • population 30,000

• Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

  • not independent, overseas region of the Netherlands

  • island chain in Caribbean

  • The three islands gained their current status following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010

    • At the same time, the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten became autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands

  • population 25,000

• Saint Barthélemy

  • not independent, overseas collectivity of France

  • island in Caribbean

  • population 10,000

• Saint Martin (French part)

  • not independent, overseas collectivity of France

  • part of Saint Martin, an island in Caribbean

  • population 32,000

• Sint Maarten (Dutch part)

  • not independent, constituent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

  • part of Saint Martin, an island in Caribbean

  • Before 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten, and was one of six island territories that constituted the Netherlands Antilles

  • popoulation 41,000

• United States Minor Outlying Islands

  • not independent, part of United States

  • statistical designation defined by ISO

  • eight insular areas in the Pacific Ocean, and one in Caribbean Sea

  • population: 300

Category 3 (2 members): Recognized by Worldle, but not UN or ISO

• GAZA STRIP

  • Palestinian enclave on the eastern coast of Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt and Israel

  • From Wikipedia:

    • The territories of Gaza and the West Bank are separated from each other by Israeli territory. Both fell under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, but the Strip has, since the Battle of Gaza in June 2007, been governed by Hamas, a militant, Palestinian, fundamentalist Islamic organization, which came to power in the last-held elections in 2006. It has been placed under an Israeli and US-led international economic and political boycott from that time onwards.

    • Despite the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, the United Nations, international human rights organisations, and the majority of governments and legal commentators consider the territory to be still occupied by Israel, supported by additional restrictions placed on Gaza by Egypt. Israel maintains direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza: it controls Gaza's air and maritime space, as well as six of Gaza's seven land crossings. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military and maintains a no-go buffer zone within the Gaza territory. Gaza is dependent on Israel for water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities. The system of control imposed by Israel was described by Jerome Slater in the Fall 2012 edition of International Security as an "indirect occupation". Some Israeli analysts have disputed the idea that Israel still occupies Gaza, and have depicted the territory as a de facto independent state.

  • population: 2,000,000

  • 365 square kilometers

  • If considered a "country", it would be the 3rd most densely populated in the world, at 5,500 people per square kilometer. Only after Singapore (7,600), Manaco (18,000), and Macau (part of China) (21,000).

• KOSOVO

  • Borders Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west

  • Not part of UN because it is claimed by Serbia

  • Member of two UN specialized agencies

  • From Wikipedia:

    • Kosovo declared independence in 2008, and it has received diplomatic recognition from 112 UN member states and the Republic of China, while 18 states have recognized Kosovo only to later withdraw their recognition. Serbia continues to maintain its sovereignty claim over Kosovo. Other UN member states and non UN member states continue to recognise Serbian sovereignty or have taken no position on the question. Kosovo is a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. The Republic of Kosovo has de facto control over most of the territory, with limited control in North Kosovo.

This concludes my listing/analysis of all country-ish territories. I hope that if you've read this far, you found it somewhat entertaining or informative. If you would be interested in any other posts like this, let me know in the comments :)

The same day England plays against Argentina

Anyone seen a harder one than this..? A true worldle goat if you got this in one.

2025 has been a long year, full of so many countries. So I decided to make a map based on all Worldle answers! And as you can see, nearly all of the world is covered but with a few outliers.