Can you name the countries with the most and least current account balances?

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There are 94 comments for this game.
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Country Balances Quiz

by Matt

Created Aug 10, 2009 in Geography
Featured Aug 10, 2009
Game Plays 96,083

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	brock:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 04:43 GMT		14 points
	I was surprised by the African countries.

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	micah:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 04:48 GMT		31 points
	The "big countries plus OPEC" strategy works pretty well here.

	RedLIon:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 04:49 GMT		92 points
	Joe Grzzly: I hate it when people make that comment. ANY geography quiz is, by definition, going to be partly a guessing game. They're still the most useful and--I think--some of the funnest quizzes on this site. If it bugs you that much, don't play it.

	fatbeard:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:02 GMT		57 points
	I've found that if I just assume the US is doing something wrong, and Sweden is doing something right, I'm usually correct

	Golem:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:03 GMT		15 points
	Wow, the USA's placement, and the fact I guessed it first, is pretty depressing.

	Haunter:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:05 GMT		34 points
	USA! USA! USA!

	Lenard:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:05 GMT		1 point
	Just checking to see where some other countries rank in the CIA factbook, and it's definitely Ukraine after South Africa.

	starfish:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:06 GMT		14 points
	Good mix of big and small countries, and all the continents. I like it. :-)

	Mull_Pacha:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:07 GMT		7 points
	@ MovieDynamic: you're right, i'm pretty sure it was for the countries with the biggest debts.

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	JoeFish:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:08 GMT		13 points
	Agree with RedLion; the value of these country quizzes, for me at least, is in their ability to teach and (especially in economic and demographic type quizzes like this one) highlight very interesting patterns present in our world

	bmo1616:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:09 GMT		55 points
	This quiz is way too US, China, Japan, UK, Australia, Russia, France, etc. centric - more Nauru quizzes please

	zombifany:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:10 GMT		26 points
	I find it rather ironic that the country in the biggest debt has some of the most financially decadent people in the world while the country with the largest income has some of the poorest people in the world

	WillisParns:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:13 GMT		5 points
	the party will end eventually for the red giant

	JohnJF:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:28 GMT		17 points
	I did a fairly decent job of guessing the countries, but with the exception of the US, I did a terrible job of guessing the correct column.

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	Gordo:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 05:55 GMT		16 points
	@zombifany - This is not a measure of "debt." This is current account balance. While it's true that some countries with large debts have large current account deficits (like the US), and true that some of the countries with huge stockpiles of foreign currency have current account surpluses (like China), there are plenty of countries where the two don't tie together at all. Germany and Japan have sizable debt loads, but are #2 and #3 on the list of current account surpluses. Australia doesn't carry much debt, but is on the list for current account deficits.

	ScottyJ:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 06:00 GMT		9 points
	exactly. it just means usa buys more than it sells, this has nothing to do with debt, per se. i mean its related, but not a direct correlation as was earlier pointed out

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	Keonyn:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 07:42 GMT		55 points
	Yes, another rousing game of 'whine about the quiz'. I see, well done indeed zalagreensbury.

	quizzicle:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 07:50 GMT		2 points
	Im very surprised that some of the smaller european countries have that much in their account, i.e. norway, sweden. Well not really. And good point zombifany.

	dinnas:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 08:47 GMT		21 points
	Norway exports more than they import. I guess all those black metal albums must be worth a lot more than I thought ...

	XCivilWarGhost5X:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 09:02 GMT		1 point
	Wow I really liked this geography game. I missed three and I didn't realize which countries were going to make this list. Keep it up Sporcle

	jonnywardy:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 09:27 GMT		4 points
	Every geography game my mind draws a blank when skimming over the indian part of the world! Its not small! And the scandanavians make a lot from fishing, timber, ores and ikea/nokia :)

	stuey182:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 11:03 GMT		-2 points
	Was quite happy to get 29/30 given I didn't do it with a strategy, curse you $484 country, curse you!

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	grarap:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 11:54 GMT		9 points
	This quiz requires more intelligence than merely "guess the big country/economy". For example, most African, South American and Asian countries aren't wealthy enough to support very large debts or surpluses. Countries with huge positive balances are likely to be mineral rich or manufacturing centers, such as Norway, Germany and China. Countries in defecit are usually European and North American nations, whose economies churn out invisibles (services) rather than visibles (goods)

	cottb128:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 12:22 GMT		1 point
	@Raphael: Yeah, you could in fact think about minerals, manufacturing centers, and goods n services to guess your answers. Or you could guess some countries and get 25-26 of em. Not a criticism, just saying it doesn't really require any of that effort if you don't want it to.

	DerekH:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 13:09 GMT		14 points
	An interesting variation might be 'account balance per head of population'

	btroup1:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 13:13 GMT		3 points
	@someone: These are trade deficits, which economists can't agree on as to whether they really mean anything. It's not a rich person/poor person thing. Looks like Shoban covered this, so I'll shut up now.

	grarap:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 13:54 GMT		2 points
	@cott Your criticism could be used against any geography game. As long as you keep on guessing, you bound to get 'something' correct, right?

	giga:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 14:05 GMT		-1 points
	One would have to admit that it is remarkable that small countries like switzerland and singapore made it to the top 15 positive account balance list, especially when singapore is a dot

	paparazzi:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 15:23 GMT		0 points
	The UAE is such a small country, the size of South Carolina, and yet is has 364 billion dollars to it's name. It's incredible to thing about. And it really shows that oil has become the new gold.

	GeordieGordie:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 15:49 GMT		0 points
	The oil thing worked well for me here, but I only got 25/30, the biggest one I missed was USA! Must need more sleep.

	AKAPseudonym:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 16:01 GMT		5 points
	Lots of neo-mercantilists around here

	bean:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 16:08 GMT		25 points
	unrelated to the quiz.. but does anyone else hate that little "share" bar underneath it that pops up when you rollover it, and it won't go away while it blocks the quiz?

	ianbob:	Aug 10th, 2009 at 16:18 GMT		1 point
	I just watched "I.O.U.S.A." yesterday and it came in very handy on this quiz.