Name the Country From its Light Pollution

Light pollution in large areas of the world is so bad that if you look at a satellite image of the Earth at night you can name many of the countries around the world just from each country's light pollution. See if you can name the countries shown below from how they appear from space at night.

The countries are not shown to scale.

Can you name this country (above) in Europe? This one is very easy so you get no more clues.

The country above might prove more difficult. So here are two clues

Clues (select text below to reveal)

1. This country is in Africa

2. The light pollution is mostly along the country's large river

This one actually shows two different countries. Can you name both of them?

Clue (select text below to reveal)

On of these two countries begins with the word 'North'. The other country begins with the word 'South'.

The shape of the country above can be a little hard to make out because much of the country is free from light pollution. However you can still make out some major cities and a lot of development around some of the country's coastline.

This country in Asia is much more densely populated and consequently has much more light pollution.

The images for all of the countries shown on this page came from the Light Pollution Map. This interactive map allows you to explore the whole world as it appears at night using VIIRS data. The map allows you to adjust the transparency of the light pollution layer. If you did poorly on this quiz then you can always use this transparency layer to view a map of the world underneath the VIIRS layer.

Let's finish with another easy one. No clues for this one.


Answers (select text to reveal)

1. Italy

2. Egypt

3. North Korea and South Korea

4. Australia

5. Japan

6. Great Britain