Afghanistan(capital: Kabul)Capital: Kabul. The Hindu Kush range separates northern plains from southwestern ones. The UN files Afghanistan under Southern Asia. Units on Southwest and Central Asia often include it.
Bangladesh(capital: Dhaka)Capital: Dhaka. The eighth most populous country in the world. Area: about 148,000 square kilometers.
Bhutan(capital: Thimphu)Capital: Thimphu. A kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas with no coast. About 38,000 square kilometers.
India(capital: New Delhi)Capital: New Delhi. The world's largest country by population. The seventh-largest by area.
Iran(capital: Tehran)Capital: Tehran. Known in history as Persia. The UN files Iran under Southern Asia; units on Southwest Asia and the Middle East include it.
Maldives(capital: Malé)Capital: Malé. The smallest country in Asia. Its 26 atolls stretch across the equator, about 750 kilometers from the mainland.
Nepal(capital: Kathmandu)Capital: Kathmandu. Mainly in the Himalayas. It has eight of the ten highest mountains in the world, Mount Everest among them.
Pakistan(capital: Islamabad)Capital: Islamabad. Karachi is the largest city. The fifth most populous country in the world.
Sri Lanka(capital: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte)Capitals: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative) and Colombo (executive and judicial). Either is accepted. Formerly called Ceylon.
How this list was compiled: The 47 countries are the member states of the United Nations that the UN files under its five regions of Asia: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states and United Nations Statistics Division, Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/, both checked 2026-09-19. Capitals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_in_Asia, checked 2026-09-19. One capital is left out because the source marks it as claimed; that country is asked by name only. Shapes of the drawing that are dependencies, that the points file flags as disputed, or that the top edge cuts off are not on this list and are never asked. Positions in the hints were read off the drawing. The two capitals of Sri Lanka, both accepted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka, checked 2026-09-19. Astana named Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana, checked 2026-09-19. The second and later sentences of each detail line were read on 2026-09-19 in the lead of that country's article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the country's name as the quiz labels it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland for those two); no detail line names a flagged shape or describes a border that is contested. Hints and detail lines written for this site. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 32°N 87°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. 4 places are too small to draw at this scale and shown as a dot. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This South Asia countries quiz asks the 9 countries on the United Nations list for Southern Asia, Iran to Bangladesh. Find it names a country to tap. Name it lights one, asks what it is, then asks its capital.
Read the full guide
Nine, eight or seven: which list you have
The United Nations files 9 member states under Southern Asia, and this page asks all 9: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The regional group SAARC has 8 members, the same without Iran. It began in 1985 with 7 and added Afghanistan in 2007.
Capitals in Name it, and two rings
Name it makes this a South Asia map quiz with capitals: name the country, then its capital, and the question counts only when both are right. Bhutan and the Maldives are too small to tap, so each has a ring. For a South and Central Asia map quiz, follow this page with Southwest and Central Asia, which asks the Central Asian countries drawn here as background.
Top row, west to east: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India. Iran sits between Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf.
Nepal and Bhutan look like neighbors but never touch: a strip of India runs between them, with Bangladesh just south.
Off India's southern tip, Sri Lanka is the teardrop to the southeast. The ringed Maldives, southwest, is Asia's smallest country.
Questions and answers
Why does this quiz ask Iran?
Because it follows the United Nations list, which places Iran in Southern Asia for statistical convenience. Iran is more often grouped with the Middle East or Southwest Asia, and it is asked again on the Southwest and Central Asia page.
Is Afghanistan in South Asia or Central Asia?
Lists differ. The United Nations files Afghanistan under Southern Asia, and it joined SAARC in 2007. Central Asia is usually the five former Soviet republics, with Afghanistan the country most often added. This quiz asks it, and so does the Southwest and Central Asia page.
Which capital of Sri Lanka does the quiz expect?
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital, is the answer shown. Kotte is accepted, and so is Colombo, the executive and judicial capital and the largest city. Check which one your teacher wants. Study shows the quiz's spelling beside every country.