Venezuela 🇻🇪
Venezuela is a country in South America with a population of 28,301,696. Its capital is Caracas. The official currency is VES, and the main languages are Spanish.
Quick facts
- Capital: Caracas
- Continent: South America
- Population: 28,301,696
- Area: 916,445 km²
- Density: 30.9 people per km²
- Currency: VES
- Languages: Spanish
- ISO code: VE
Where Venezuela sits
Venezuela 🇻🇪 is one of 12 countries in South America, with its capital at Caracas. It covers 916,445 square kilometres — 32nd in the world — and is home to about 28,301,696 people, 51st globally.
The countries it shares a continent with include Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Chile. 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 Venezuela compares
Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Venezuela sits closest to Ivory Coast and Cameroon. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Nigeria and Tanzania.
At 30.9 people per square kilometre it is about 1.9 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.
Spanish is an official language in 20 countries here, among them Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia, and 15 others. The VES is used by Venezuela and no one else.
To see Venezuela 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 Venezuela
Caracas lies in the Caracas Valley of the coastal mountains, close to the Caribbean Sea. For the flag, count the stars: eight white stars curve like a rainbow across the blue middle stripe.
The flag of Venezuela: yellow, blue and red, with white stars
🇻🇪 The flag is three horizontal stripes of yellow, blue and red, with an arc of eight white stars on the blue stripe and the coat of arms in the top corner by the flagpole. Yellow stands for the riches of the land, blue for the courage of its people, and red for the blood shed for independence. Seven stars stand for the provinces that signed the 1811 declaration of independence, and the eighth for Guayana, which joined in 1817.
Region and neighbours
Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America, on the Caribbean Sea, with mountains that extend the Andes in the north and the Guiana Highlands in the southeast. It shares land borders with 3 countries: Colombia, Brazil and Guyana.
- Colombia 🇨🇴 — capital Bogotá
- Brazil 🇧🇷 — capital Brasília
- Guyana 🇬🇾 — capital Georgetown
Three facts about Venezuela
- Angel Falls, in the Guiana Highlands, is the world's highest waterfall.
- The name Venezuela means 'Little Venice': stilt houses on Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator Amerigo Vespucci of the Italian city.
- Pico Bolívar, 4,979 m high in the Andes, is Venezuela's highest point.
Sources: Wikipedia: Venezuela, Wikipedia: Flag of Venezuela, Wikipedia: Caracas, CIA World Factbook.
Quiz yourself on Venezuela
- South American capitals quiz — match Venezuela to Caracas
- South American flags quiz — spot the Venezuela flag among its neighbours
Quizzes that include Venezuela
Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Venezuela those are:
- South America map quiz — place it on a blank map
- South America flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
- South America capitals quiz — match it to Caracas
- Venezuela capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Venezuela
- 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 Venezuela
- Capital of Venezuela: Caracas — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
- All 12 countries of South America
Nearby countries
- Argentina 🇦🇷 — capital Buenos Aires
- Bolivia 🇧🇴 — capital Sucre
- Brazil 🇧🇷 — capital Brasília
- Chile 🇨🇱 — capital Santiago
- Colombia 🇨🇴 — capital Bogotá
- Ecuador 🇪🇨 — capital Quito
- Guyana 🇬🇾 — capital Georgetown
- Paraguay 🇵🇾 — capital Asunción
- Peru 🇵🇪 — capital Lima
- Suriname 🇸🇷 — capital Paramaribo
- Uruguay 🇺🇾 — capital Montevideo
Frequently asked questions
What are the colours of the Venezuela flag?
The flag of Venezuela is three horizontal stripes of yellow, blue and red, with an arc of eight white stars on the blue stripe and the coat of arms in the top corner by the flagpole. Yellow stands for the riches of the land, blue for the courage of its people, and red for the blood shed for independence. Seven stars stand for the provinces that signed the 1811 declaration of independence, and the eighth for Guayana, which joined in 1817.
Which countries border Venezuela?
Venezuela shares land borders with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana.
How can I remember the capital of Venezuela?
Caracas lies in the Caracas Valley of the coastal mountains, close to the Caribbean Sea. For the flag, count the stars: eight white stars curve like a rainbow across the blue middle stripe.