Extreme and Superlative Facts
Free study material · concepts, shortcuts & solved questions
Superlative questions ("largest," "smallest," "highest," "newest") are a recurring, low-effort-to-prepare, high-frequency question type — worth a dedicated pass through the following closed set of facts.
| Superlative | Answer |
|---|---|
| Largest country by area | Russia (~17.1 million km², nearly twice the size of the next-largest country) |
| Smallest country by area | Vatican City (~0.44 km²) |
| Largest country by population | India (has surpassed China as the world's most populous country, per UN estimates) |
| Smallest sovereign population (fully independent, UN member) | Tuvalu / Nauru (both around 10,000–12,000 people) |
| Only two doubly landlocked countries in the world (landlocked, and bordered entirely by other landlocked countries) | Liechtenstein (Europe) and Uzbekistan (Central Asia) |
| Continent with the most landlocked countries | Africa (16 landlocked countries) |
| World's highest capital city (by common usage) | La Paz, Bolivia (~3,640–3,650 m above sea level; the seat of government, though Sucre is the constitutional capital) |
| Highest capital city among countries with a single undisputed capital | Quito, Ecuador (~2,850 m) |
| World's lowest capital city (below sea level) | Baku, Azerbaijan (~28 m below sea level) |
| Newest country in the world (most recent UN member) | South Sudan (2011) |
| Newest purpose-built capital city (relocated in the 21st century) | Naypyidaw, Myanmar (2005) |
| Largest country in Africa by area | Algeria |
| Largest country in Africa by population | Nigeria |
| Largest country in South America (by area and population) | Brazil |
| Smallest country in mainland Europe | Vatican City, followed by Monaco and San Marino |
| World's highest-valued currency unit | Kuwaiti Dinar |
| Most populous city that is NOT its country's capital | Sydney (Australia), São Paulo (Brazil), and Mumbai's status relative to New Delhi are commonly cited examples — see the Common Exam Traps section below |
Why La Paz's "highest capital" title is contested, and worth understanding rather than just memorising: Bolivia's constitutional capital is Sucre, at a comparatively modest ~2,810 m, but the country's actual seat of government — where the president, cabinet, and legislature actually sit — is La Paz, at roughly 3,640–3,650 m. Almanacs that ask for "the world's highest capital" are really asking for the highest functioning seat of government, which is why La Paz, not Sucre, earns the title in most references, and why Quito (Ecuador, ~2,850 m) is usually cited as the highest capital among countries with only one, undisputed capital city — a genuinely different, narrower superlative that a careless reading of "highest capital" would conflate with La Paz's title.
Why Russia and Vatican City anchor the area extremes so cleanly: Russia's ~17.1 million km² is not just "the largest" but is larger than the next two largest countries (Canada and China) combined with room to spare, spanning eleven time zones and two continents — an easy number to sanity-check against any answer choice that looks close. Vatican City, at under half a square kilometre, could fit inside almost any country's capital-city park system many times over — it is smaller than most golf courses, a comparison worth holding onto for exactly the "which of these is the world's smallest country" trick question.
Memory hook — "R for Russia, largest; V for Vatican, smallest — and both start letters you'd never confuse for each other": anchoring the two area extremes (Russia/Vatican) first makes every other superlative feel like a smaller-scale version of the same "biggest vs smallest" comparison — apply the same instinct to population (India largest, Nauru/Tuvalu smallest) and altitude (La Paz highest, Baku lowest).
Practice Recall: Name the world's largest and smallest countries by area, the two doubly landlocked countries in the world, and the world's highest and lowest capital cities.