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Sovereign country (1)
Exactly one sovereign UN member state has an English name beginning with Q: the State of Qatar. There are no current territories or dependencies starting with Q, which makes Q one of just two letters — alongside O — that map to a single country.
The shortage of "Q countries" is mostly an accident of English transliteration. Qatar in Arabic is قَطَر, beginning with the letter qāf — a deep guttural consonant pronounced at the back of the throat that English does not have, conventionally written as Q (and notably without a following U, breaking standard English spelling rules).
Territories and other entities
No current territories or dependencies start with the letter Q.
Related letter lookups
Browsing the alphabet is a popular way to teach geography. Try the neighbouring letters:
- Countries That Start With P — Thirteen nations including Pakistan, Peru, and Poland.
- Countries That Start With R — Three nations — Romania, Russia, and Rwanda.
- Countries That Start With O — The other one-country letter (Oman).
Quick answer for skimmers
Q: How many countries start with Q?
A: Just one — Qatar.
Q: Why are there so few Q countries?
A: Q is a rare letter in English to begin with, and most country names with a similar Arabic initial (qāf) get transliterated with K or another letter in English usage.
Q: What about Quebec?
A: Quebec is a province of Canada, not a sovereign country.
Country profiles mentioned in this post:
Qatar