All 11 countries that start with A
This list counts the 195 states the United Nations recognizes as members or observers, the same 195 the Geography app and its country quiz use, so the total here will never drift from the total anywhere else on this site. Territories, disputed states, and former names are not counted separately, and the count is generated directly from that dataset rather than typed by hand.
| Country | Capital | Continent | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
 Afghanistan | Kabul | Asia | A landlocked mountain nation in South Asia, back under Taliban rule since 2021. |
 Albania | Tirana | Europe | A small Balkan country on the Adriatic coast, an EU candidate since 2014. |
 Algeria | Algiers | Africa | Africa's largest country by land area, a major gas exporter on the Mediterranean. |
 Andorra | Andorra la Vella | Europe | A microstate in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, run by two co-princes. |
 Angola | Luanda | Africa | A southern African oil producer, Portuguese speaking since colonial rule ended in 1975. |
 Antigua and Barbuda | Saint John's | North America | A twin island nation in the Eastern Caribbean, independent from Britain since 1981. |
 Argentina | Buenos Aires | South America | South America's second largest country, stretching from the subtropics to Patagonia. |
 Armenia | Yerevan | Asia | A landlocked country in the South Caucasus with the world's oldest state church. |
 Australia | Canberra | Oceania | The only country that is also a continent, with Canberra as its purpose built capital. |
 Austria | Vienna | Europe | A landlocked Alpine country in Central Europe, neutral since 1955. |
 Azerbaijan | Baku | Asia | A Caspian Sea nation spanning the border of Europe and Asia. |
Where these eleven sit on the map
The letter A spreads unusually wide across the globe. Three of the eleven, Afghanistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, sit in Asia, with the last two occupying the Caucasus, a region some atlases split between Europe and Asia. Algeria and Angola are in Africa, Algeria being the continent's largest country by land area at roughly 2.4 million square kilometers. Argentina sits in South America, Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, and the remaining three, Albania, Andorra, and Austria, are in Europe. Australia stands apart from all of them, an entire continent that is also a single country.
Population varies just as widely. Argentina has around 46 million residents and Algeria around 47 million, while Andorra, wedged in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, has fewer than 90,000, making it one of the smallest countries in Europe by population as well as by area. Australia and Austria share a name root, from the Latin australis, meaning southern, but the two countries otherwise have nothing in common: one is a vast island continent in the Southern Hemisphere, the other a landlocked Alpine republic in Central Europe.
Naming edge cases worth knowing
Antigua and Barbuda is one country with two island names joined by "and," the same pattern as Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. Azerbaijan and Armenia both sit in the Caucasus, a region geographers split between Europe and Asia depending on the source, and this dataset files both under Asia. None of the eleven A countries have changed their name in recent decades, unlike Eswatini or Turkiye.
Quick facts
- Eleven countries start with A, out of the 195 UN member and observer states.
- Australia is the only one that is also a continent.
- Three of the eleven, Afghanistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, sit in Asia, with Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus.
- Andorra is the smallest by population, with fewer than 90,000 residents.