The lead, over time
Above the line: Dense. Below the line: Rat.
Dense minus Rat over time. Currently tied. Above zero: Dense; below zero: Rat. Hover, tap or use arrow keys for each visit.
The race, by the numbers
Every country.
Every advantage.
Two travellers. One finish line. The leads, long hauls and little obsessions behind the race to 197.
88/88
DenseRat
Snapshot · Oct 2026
Race & lead
A new country moves the needle. Returning to a favourite doesn’t. Every visit type counts; every tie puts the lead on hold.
Changes of lead
24
Switches between players; initial lead excluded
Biggest advantage
8/4
Dense 24 Jun 2012 · Rat 2007 (approx.)
Years won
9/7
More new countries in a calendar year
Days since a new country
229/1
Based on the most recent first visit
The worm
Two journeys towards the same 197-country finish line.
Cumulative unique countries: Dense 88, Rat 88. Repeat visits never increase a score.
Who held on the longest?
Dense
- Longest uninterrupted lead
- ≈ 1,121 days · Jul 2011–Jul 2014
- Biggest lead ever
- 8 countries · 24 Jun 2012
Rat
- Longest uninterrupted lead
- ≈ 365 days · Jul 2006–Jul 2007
- Biggest lead ever
- 4 countries · 2007 (approx.)
Year against year
New countries, not repeat trips. Each pair of bars is a fresh contest.
0
2
4
6
8
2006
2011
2016
2021
2026
Dense wins 9 years; Rat wins 7; 5 tied.
Year-by-year numbers
| Year | Dense | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 5 countries | 6 countries |
| 2007 | 7 countries | 6 countries |
| 2008 | 3 countries | 3 countries |
| 2009 | 3 countries | 3 countries |
| 2010 | 4 countries | 3 countries |
| 2011 | 8 countries | 5 countries |
| 2012 | 6 countries | 4 countries |
| 2013 | 2 countries | 4 countries |
| 2014 | 4 countries | 8 countries |
| 2015 | 5 countries | 4 countries |
| 2016 | 4 countries | 3 countries |
| 2017 | 4 countries | 8 countries |
| 2018 | 4 countries | 2 countries |
| 2019 | 7 countries | 6 countries |
| 2020 | 2 countries | 2 countries |
| 2021 | 3 countries | 4 countries |
| 2022 | 3 countries | 3 countries |
| 2023 | 6 countries | 6 countries |
| 2024 | 1 countries | 2 countries |
| 2025 | 5 countries | 3 countries |
| 2026 | 2 countries | 3 countries |
At this rate…
Linear regression over the last five years. Fuzzy dates make these estimates approximate.
Solid lines: unique countries to date. Dashed lines: five-year regression pace, anchored at today’s score; showing up to ten years ahead. Targets: 100, 150 and 197. A projection is not a promise.
The road to 197
Dense
3.5 countries / year
- 100 countries
- ≈ Mar 2030
- 150 countries
- ≈ Jul 2044
- 197 countries
- ≈ Jan 2058
Rat
3.2 countries / year
- 100 countries
- ≈ Jul 2030
- 150 countries
- ≈ Dec 2045
- 197 countries
- ≈ Jun 2060
A world of difference
Same planet, different paths. Country coverage uses the full 197-country list; area and population are country totals, not the places physically explored.
World land area covered
66.1%/69.8%
Share of the combined area of our 197 countries
World population covered
70.2%/73.5%
Share of the dataset’s population living in visited countries
The continental contest
Dense and Rat, against each continent’s full country count.
AfricaRat leads 7–6 · 54 total
AsiaRat leads 24–17 · 48 total
EuropeRat leads 46–38 · 46 total
North AmericaDense leads 17–2 · 23 total
OceaniaDense leads 6–2 · 14 total
South AmericaRat leads 7–4 · 12 total
Common ground
Shared memories, exclusive bragging rights, and what’s still out there.
60 shared countries; 28 Dense only; 28 Rat only; 81 neither. Circles are illustrative, not area-proportional.
The subregion ledger
Smaller regions. More specific bragging rights.
| UN subregion | Dense | Rat | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia and New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Caribbean | 7 | 0 | 13 |
| Central America | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Central Asia | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Eastern Africa | 2 | 4 | 18 |
| Eastern Asia | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Eastern Europe | 7 | 10 | 10 |
| Melanesia | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Micronesia | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Middle Africa | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Northern Africa | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Northern America | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Europe | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Polynesia | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| South America | 4 | 7 | 12 |
| South-Eastern Asia | 5 | 9 | 11 |
| Southern Africa | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Southern Asia | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| Southern Europe | 12 | 16 | 16 |
| Western Africa | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Western Asia | 8 | 5 | 18 |
| Western Europe | 8 | 9 | 9 |
Out on the edges
Dense
- Northernmost capital
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- Southernmost capital
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- Easternmost capital
- 🇫🇯 Fiji
- Westernmost capital
- 🇹🇴 Tonga
- Furthest from home
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand · ≈ 18,795 km
Rat
- Northernmost capital
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- Southernmost capital
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- Easternmost capital
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- Westernmost capital
- 🇪🇨 Ecuador
- Furthest from home
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand · ≈ 18,566 km
Just across the border
Dense
Unvisited neighbours, ranked by how many visited countries they border.
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine5 neighbours
- 🇧🇾 Belarus4 neighbours
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia4 neighbours
- 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia4 neighbours
- 🇸🇾 Syria4 neighbours
- 🇧🇴 Bolivia3 neighbours
- 🇽🇰 Kosovo3 neighbours
- 🇱🇦 Laos3 neighbours
All 59 possibilities
- Myanmar · 3
- Palestine · 3
- Algeria · 2
- Andorra · 2
- Azerbaijan · 2
- Bhutan · 2
- Cambodia · 2
- Chile · 2
- Ecuador · 2
- Georgia · 2
- Iraq · 2
- Kazakhstan · 2
- Libya · 2
- Liechtenstein · 2
- Mongolia · 2
- Mozambique · 2
- North Korea · 2
- Pakistan · 2
- Paraguay · 2
- Uganda · 2
- Uruguay · 2
- Venezuela · 2
- Afghanistan · 1
- Armenia · 1
- Bangladesh · 1
- Botswana · 1
- Brunei · 1
- Burundi · 1
- DR Congo · 1
- Eswatini · 1
- Ethiopia · 1
- Guyana · 1
- Haiti · 1
- Iran · 1
- Kyrgyzstan · 1
- Lesotho · 1
- Malawi · 1
- Moldova · 1
- Namibia · 1
- Papua New Guinea · 1
- Rwanda · 1
- San Marino · 1
- Somalia · 1
- South Sudan · 1
- Sudan · 1
- Suriname · 1
- Tajikistan · 1
- Timor-Leste · 1
- Yemen · 1
- Zambia · 1
- Zimbabwe · 1
Rat
Unvisited neighbours, ranked by how many visited countries they border.
- 🇨🇩 DR Congo3 neighbours
- 🇮🇷 Iran3 neighbours
- 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan3 neighbours
- 🇰🇵 North Korea3 neighbours
- 🇵🇾 Paraguay3 neighbours
- 🇿🇲 Zambia3 neighbours
- 🇦🇫 Afghanistan2 neighbours
- 🇧🇹 Bhutan2 neighbours
All 34 possibilities
- Burundi · 2
- Mongolia · 2
- Mozambique · 2
- Pakistan · 2
- South Sudan · 2
- Tajikistan · 2
- Turkmenistan · 2
- Uruguay · 2
- Venezuela · 2
- Zimbabwe · 2
- Angola · 1
- Brunei · 1
- Eswatini · 1
- Ethiopia · 1
- Guyana · 1
- Iraq · 1
- Lesotho · 1
- Malawi · 1
- Mexico · 1
- Morocco · 1
- Panama · 1
- Papua New Guinea · 1
- Somalia · 1
- Suriname · 1
- Syria · 1
- Timor-Leste · 1
Only one of you has been here
Dense
- 🇧🇸 Bahamas
- 🇧🇧 Barbados
- 🇧🇿 Belize
- 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
- 🇨🇺 Cuba
- 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
- 🇪🇬 Egypt
- 🇸🇻 El Salvador
- 🇫🇯 Fiji
- 🇬🇹 Guatemala
- 🇭🇳 Honduras
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇯🇲 Jamaica
- 🇯🇴 Jordan
- 🇱🇧 Lebanon
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇲🇦 Morocco
- 🇳🇮 Nicaragua
- 🇴🇲 Oman
- 🇵🇦 Panama
- 🇶🇦 Qatar
- 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia
- 🇼🇸 Samoa
- 🇹🇴 Tonga
- 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
- 🇹🇳 Tunisia
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇻🇺 Vanuatu
Rat
- 🇦🇩 Andorra
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
- 🇧🇾 Belarus
- 🇧🇴 Bolivia
- 🇧🇼 Botswana
- 🇰🇭 Cambodia
- 🇨🇱 Chile
- 🇪🇨 Ecuador
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
- 🇽🇰 Kosovo
- 🇱🇦 Laos
- 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein
- 🇲🇻 Maldives
- 🇲🇩 Moldova
- 🇲🇲 Myanmar
- 🇳🇦 Namibia
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
- 🇵🇭 Philippines
- 🇷🇼 Rwanda
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
- 🇰🇷 South Korea
- 🇹🇼 Taiwan
- 🇺🇬 Uganda
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
- 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
The long way round
Home → capital → capital. All visits, including repeats, contribute to this illustrative travel chain. Distances are great-circle estimates, not flight logs.
Total distance · km
566,520/515,112
≈ Capital-to-capital, starting at home
Laps of the equator
14.1/12.9
≈ One lap = 40,075 km
Busiest year
2011/2017
9 / 10 visits
Days between new countries
≈84/≈87
Average completed gap; repeat trips excluded
A calendar of escapes
Visits by year and month. Switch players to compare their rhythm.
JFMAMJJASOND
2006 ≈
2007 ≈
2008 ≈
2009 ≈
2010 ≈
2011 ≈
2012 ≈
2013 ≈
2014 ≈
2015 ≈
2016 ≈
2017
2018 ≈
2019
2020
2021 ≈
2022
2023 ≈
2024 ≈
2025 ≈
2026
Darker = more visits. ≈ includes fuzzy dates; year-only dates appear in July, month-only dates on the 15th. Not a record of exact travel months.
How they travel
All visit types count equally towards the score.
dense · 108 visits
Transit 3Day trip 12Overnight 92Lived here 1
rat · 108 visits
Transit 1Day trip 12Overnight 94Lived here 1
Kilometres, year by year
Distance is attributed to the year of arrival. ≈ All distances are estimates.
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
2006
2011
2016
2021
2026
Dense ≈ 566,520 km; Rat ≈ 515,112 km in total.
Year-by-year numbers
| Year | Dense | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 6,115 km | 7,217 km |
| 2007 | 6,989 km | 16,401 km |
| 2008 | 6,366 km | 19,036 km |
| 2009 | 20,547 km | 32,589 km |
| 2010 | 21,424 km | 32,855 km |
| 2011 | 77,460 km | 43,294 km |
| 2012 | 14,580 km | 6,170 km |
| 2013 | 23,878 km | 11,086 km |
| 2014 | 33,653 km | 26,677 km |
| 2015 | 19,564 km | 14,980 km |
| 2016 | 18,840 km | 4,183 km |
| 2017 | 38,868 km | 48,303 km |
| 2018 | 19,104 km | 13,673 km |
| 2019 | 38,783 km | 29,357 km |
| 2020 | 16,320 km | 11,056 km |
| 2021 | 15,139 km | 36,995 km |
| 2022 | 53,377 km | 36,127 km |
| 2023 | 42,843 km | 43,245 km |
| 2024 | 23,391 km | 26,733 km |
| 2025 | 41,604 km | 49,409 km |
| 2026 | 27,675 km | 5,726 km |
Journeys worth a mention
Dense
- Longest single hop
- ≈ 18,970 km · Peru → Vietnam
- Longest drought, including the current one
- ≈ 365 days · Jul 2008–Jul 2009
- First visit
- Slovenia · Feb 2006 (approx.)
- Latest visit, repeats included
- Tonga · 1 Mar 2026
- Favourite returns
- Australia (3 visits) · Germany (3 visits) · Greece (3 visits) · Ireland (3 visits) · Netherlands (3 visits)
Rat
- Longest single hop
- ≈ 19,851 km · New Zealand → Spain (order based on approximate dates)
- Longest drought, including the current one
- ≈ 336 days · Jul 2008–Jul 2009
- First visit
- Austria · Feb 2006 (approx.)
- Latest visit, repeats included
- Armenia · 15 Oct 2026
- Favourite returns
- Austria (3 visits) · Belgium (3 visits) · Greece (3 visits) · Italy (3 visits) · Portugal (3 visits)
For the bragging rights
The details nobody asked for, but both players will absolutely bring up. One country can contribute several flag colours, languages and currencies.
Capital UTC offsets
20/19
One capital offset per visited country
Currencies encountered
66/61
Distinct currency codes in visited countries
Landlocked countries
9/25
No coast, still counts
Island nations
22/14
Different routes to the same finish line
Alphabet bingo
A country for every possible initial. Who’ll fill their card first?
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Alphabet bingo: Dense 22, Rat 20 of 24 possible initials. Crossed-out letters have no country in our list. Dots show who has ticked each letter.
Every side of the world
Country hemispheres, not the precise location of a visit.
North
78/77
East
61/76
West
32/17
South
15/18
Countries spanning a dividing line count on both sides. Both N/S: 5/7 · Both E/W: 5/5
Flying colours
Most common flag colour: Dense white, Rat red. Counts are by unique visited country.
red
68/71
white
71/66
blue
49/53
green
30/28
yellow
36/38
black
23/16
orange
4/5
Swatches use theme-safe categorical colours; the label names the actual flag colour.
Small worlds, big worlds
Dense
- Smallest country
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City · 0.44 km²
- Largest country
- 🇷🇺 Russia · 17,098,242 km²
- Least populous
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City · 800 people
- Most populous
- 🇮🇳 India · 1,438,069,596 people
Rat
- Smallest country
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City · 0.44 km²
- Largest country
- 🇷🇺 Russia · 17,098,242 km²
- Least populous
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City · 800 people
- Most populous
- 🇮🇳 India · 1,438,069,596 people
Lost in translation?
Dense
75 distinct languages
Languages, currencies & UTC offsets
- Languages in visited countries
- Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Austro-Bavarian German, Aymara, Belizean Creole, Berber, Bislama, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Fiji Hindi, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Guaraní, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican Patois, Japanese, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Malay, Maltese, Montenegrin, Māori, Nepali, New Zealand Sign Language, Northern Sotho, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Sami, Samoan, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovene, Southern Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Swiss German, Tamil, Thai, Tongan, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Venda, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu
- Currencies
- AED, ALL, ARS, AUD, BAM, BBD, BGN, BRL, BSD, BZD, CAD, CHF, CNY, COP, CRC, CUC, CUP, CZK, DKK, DOP, EGP, EUR, FJD, GBP, GTQ, HNL, HUF, IDR, ILS, INR, ISK, JMD, JOD, JPY, KES, LBP, LKR, MAD, MXN, MYR, NIO, NOK, NPR, NZD, OMR, PAB, PEN, PLN, QAR, RON, RSD, RUB, SEK, SGD, THB, TND, TOP, TRY, TTD, TZS, USD, VND, VUV, WST, XCD, ZAR
- Capital UTC offsets
- UTC+00:00, UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, UTC+04:00, UTC+05:30, UTC+05:45, UTC+07:00, UTC+08:00, UTC+09:00, UTC+10:00, UTC+11:00, UTC+12:00, UTC+13:00, UTC-01:00, UTC-03:00, UTC-04:00, UTC-05:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-07:00
Rat
88 distinct languages
Languages, currencies & UTC offsets
- Languages in visited countries
- Afrikaans, Albanian, Armenian, Austro-Bavarian German, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Guaraní, Herero, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Khmer, Khoekhoe, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kwangali, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lozi, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Malay, Maldivian, Maltese, Moldavian, Montenegrin, Māori, Ndonga, Nepali, New Zealand Sign Language, Northern Sotho, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Sami, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovene, Southern Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Swiss German, Tamil, Thai, Tsonga, Tswana, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Venda, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu
- Currencies
- ALL, AMD, ARS, AUD, AZN, BAM, BDT, BGN, BOB, BRL, BWP, BYN, CAD, CHF, CLP, CNY, COP, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, GEL, HUF, IDR, INR, ISK, JPY, KES, KHR, KRW, KZT, LAK, LKR, MDL, MKD, MMK, MVR, MYR, NAD, NOK, NPR, NZD, PEN, PHP, PLN, RON, RSD, RUB, RWF, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, TWD, TZS, UAH, UGX, USD, UZS, VND, ZAR
- Capital UTC offsets
- UTC+00:00, UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, UTC+04:00, UTC+05:00, UTC+05:30, UTC+05:45, UTC+06:00, UTC+06:30, UTC+07:00, UTC+08:00, UTC+09:00, UTC+10:00, UTC+12:00, UTC-01:00, UTC-03:00, UTC-04:00, UTC-05:00