Volume I May 2026 · World Knowledge

The Encyclopedia, in full.

A comprehensive reference covering every country, flag, currency, landmark and culture on Earth — factual, in-depth and continually updated.

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Total entries
2,497+
Continents
7
Languages
7,000+
Last updated
May 2026
Today's spotlight TUE · 19 MAY 2026
Flag of Poland

Poland

Poland is the sixth-most-populous EU member, with a Baltic coast, the Białowieża primeval forest, the Tatra mountains, and historic centres in Warsaw, Kraków and Gdańsk that have endured wars and…

Capital
Warsaw
Population
37M
Currency
Polish Zloty (PLN)
Continent
Europe
Read the full profile
Index

A–Z of every nation

Filter, jump or scroll. The whole index fits in one panel — no page-scroll required.

198 showing

Curiosities

Rabbit holes, six of them.

Cross-sections of the encyclopedia by theme. Pick a thread and follow it.

Microstates

Population under one million

39 nations

The vastest

Largest countries by land area

Tongues plural

Four or more official languages

5 nations

Landlocked

Not a metre of coastline

44 nations

Archipelagos

Nations made of many islands

Newer arrivals

Independence after 1990

Quick reference

The world, ranked

Four datasets at a glance — the largest currencies, languages, populations and faiths, charted to scale. Open the full reference for 43 more rankings.

01

Most-traded currencies

% of daily forex turnover

  1. 1 US Dollar 88%
  2. 2 Euro 31%
  3. 3 Japanese Yen 17%
  4. 4 Pound Sterling 13%
  5. 5 Chinese Yuan 7%
  6. 6 Australian Dollar 7%
Source BIS Triennial Survey 2022
02

Most-spoken languages

Total speakers (billions)

  1. 1 English 1.5B
  2. 2 Mandarin 1.1B
  3. 3 Hindi 602M
  4. 4 Spanish 548M
  5. 5 French 274M
  6. 6 Arabic 274M
Source Ethnologue 2024
03

Most-populous countries

Population (billions)

  1. 1 India 1.43B
  2. 2 China 1.41B
  3. 3 United States 335M
  4. 4 Indonesia 278M
  5. 5 Pakistan 241M
  6. 6 Nigeria 224M
Source UN Population Division 2024
04

World religions

Adherents (billions)

  1. 1 CH Christianity 2.4B
  2. 2 IS Islam 1.9B
  3. 3 Unaffiliated 1.2B
  4. 4 HI Hinduism 1.2B
  5. 5 BU Buddhism 507M
  6. 6 FO Folk religions 430M
Source Pew Research Center
From the archive

Cities and landmarks, from the index.

A handful of entries pulled at random from the encyclopedia. Click any tile to read the full profile.