Earth.
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The list follows the 242 units in the Natural Earth base map at 1:50,000,000 scale, edition 5.1.2: it includes countries and territories, using that reference’s names and divisions. Borders and coastlines are generalised for an overview.

Reference cities use the capitals and administrative centres included in the same dataset. Some countries have several; some territories have none. The point used for distances is named on the fact sheet.

For 215 fact sheets, population is the latest available value of the World Bank indicator SP.POP.TOTL in the consulted extract, updated on 8 October 2026. The selected year is 2025. For the other populated entries, the Natural Earth estimate is retained with its own year.

The year and source appear beside each figure. Statistical and cartographic coverage may differ. The palette represents each unit’s total population, not its density; it does not provide a world total for a single date. No comparable value is displayed for Antarctica.

The “mapped area” is calculated on a sphere with a mean radius of 6,371.0088 km, from simplified boundaries. It gives an approximate cartographic area and may differ from an official area, especially for coastlines, small islands and outlying territories.

Distance measures the shortest arc on the same sphere between two reference points: the first listed city, or the territory’s placement point if none is available. Terrain and Earth’s flattening are not included. The dashed line connects these points; part may be hidden behind the globe’s far side.

• Natural Earth · Admin 0 Countries and Populated Places : geometry, names and reference points. Public domain. Retained reference: Natural Earth Vector repository, edition 5.1.2.
• World Bank · WDI, Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), licence CC BY 4.0. Statistical providers cited by the World Bank: the United Nations, national statistical bodies and Eurostat. Extract prepared on 19 October 2026; the latest available year was selected for each country.
• D3 and d3-geo, by Mike Bostock and Observable : projections and spherical geometry. ISC licence.

Design, interface and text: Universum · Steve Cimolino. Edition of 19 October 2026.