Qatar 🇶🇦

Quick facts

• Capital: Doha
• Continent: Asia
• Population: 2,695,122
• Area: 11,586 km²
• Density: 233 people per km²
• Currency: QAR
• Languages: Arabic
• ISO code: QA

Where Qatar sits

Qatar 🇶🇦 is one of 48 countries in Asia, with its capital at Doha. It covers 11,586 square kilometres — 159th in the world — and is home to about 2,695,122 people, 141st globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Qatar compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Qatar sits closest to Gambia and Lithuania. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Gambia and Jamaica.

At 233 people per square kilometre it is about 3.9 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Arabic is an official language in 25 countries here, among them Algeria, Bahrain, Chad and Comoros, and 20 others. The QAR is used by Qatar and no one else.

To see Qatar next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Qatar

Doha is the capital on the east coast of the peninsula. For the flag, the nine white points tell it apart from Bahrain's, which has fewer points and is red rather than maroon.

The flag of Qatar: maroon and white

🇶🇦 The flag is a maroon flag with a broad white band at the flagpole, joined by a zigzag edge of nine white points. White stands for peace and maroon for the blood shed in Qatar's wars. The nine points show Qatar as the ninth member of the 'reconciled emirates' after a treaty with Britain in 1916. It is the only national flag more than twice as wide as it is tall.

Region and neighbours

Qatar is a country in West Asia on the Qatar Peninsula, which sticks out into the Persian Gulf from the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It shares land borders with one country: Saudi Arabia.

• Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 — capital Riyadh

Three facts about Qatar

1. In 2022 Qatar became the first Arab and Muslim-majority country to host the FIFA World Cup.
2. Qatar has the world's third-largest natural gas reserves and is one of the largest exporters of liquefied natural gas.
3. Qatar's only land border is with Saudi Arabia.

Sources: Wikipedia: Qatar, Wikipedia: Flag of Qatar, Wikipedia: Doha, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Qatar

• Asian capitals quiz — match Qatar to Doha
• Asian flags quiz — spot the Qatar flag among its neighbours

Quizzes that include Qatar

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Qatar those are:

• Asia map quiz — place it on a blank map
• Asia flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
• Asia capitals quiz — match it to Doha
• Qatar capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Qatar
• Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Qatar

• Capital of Qatar: Doha — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
• All 48 countries of Asia

Nearby countries

• Afghanistan 🇦🇫 — capital Kabul
• Armenia 🇦🇲 — capital Yerevan
• Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 — capital Baku
• Bahrain 🇧🇭 — capital Manama
• Bangladesh 🇧🇩 — capital Dhaka
• Bhutan 🇧🇹 — capital Thimphu
• Brunei 🇧🇳 — capital Bandar Seri Begawan
• Cambodia 🇰🇭 — capital Phnom Penh
• China 🇨🇳 — capital Beijing
• Georgia 🇬🇪 — capital Tbilisi
• India 🇮🇳 — capital New Delhi
• Indonesia 🇮🇩 — capital Jakarta

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Qatar flag?

The flag of Qatar is a maroon flag with a broad white band at the flagpole, joined by a zigzag edge of nine white points. White stands for peace and maroon for the blood shed in Qatar's wars. The nine points show Qatar as the ninth member of the 'reconciled emirates' after a treaty with Britain in 1916. It is the only national flag more than twice as wide as it is tall.

Which countries border Qatar?

Qatar shares land borders with Saudi Arabia.

How can I remember the capital of Qatar?

Doha is the capital on the east coast of the peninsula. For the flag, the nine white points tell it apart from Bahrain's, which has fewer points and is red rather than maroon.