What would you say are the 12 most well-known countries?

My guess is:

USA
Russia
China
The UK
Australia
Spain
Italy
France
Germany
India, if only by the virtue of its own massive population; at least 1,300,000,000 have heard of it.
Brazil
Indonesia
Canada
Egypt
Somalia
Sudan
Japan
North Korea

The only ones I’m sure of are the first 3.

If I would go by which countries were most covered in the news in my country last year, for instance, I would say:
England (whole UK, actually)
North Korea
Syria
America
Russia
Germany
Italy
Spain
Venezuela
Afghanistan
India
Brazil

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by well known, but as an American I’ll say:

USA
England
Ireland
Scotland
Italy
Canada
Mexico
Brazil
Germany
Argentina
Vietnam
Korea
Japan
China
Russia
Israel
Spain
Austria
Switzerland
Poland
India

Well-known by whom? Every country is the most well-known to itself. Here are some of them:

Tuvalu
Nauru
Palau
San Marino
Liechtenstein
Andorra
Seychelles
Saint Vincent and the Grenadine
Kiribati
Saint Lucia
Sao Tome and Principe
Vanuatu

EXCELLENT Question!

Hard to narrow it down to twelve, of course. But I surmise that countries are best known for three supernal factors: (1) How influencial the country is in news and world events; (2) If its culture or popular symbols or holidays / traditions evoke images in most people’s minds; (3) How often we see the name or emblems representing the place; which wraps up #1 and #2.

Here’s my list – (of about sixteen)

U.S.A.
United Kingdom / “England” collectively
China
Japan
India
Russia
Canada
Scotland, though part of the previously mentioned U.K.
Ireland
Switzerland
Germany
Mexico
Spain
France
Italy
Greece

Great Britain
United States
Canada
Australia
China
Japan
France
Italy
Spain
Germany
Brazil
Mexico

Guess I would have to add Brazil to my list as well, bringing my tally to 17. The most quintessential South American country, most people have a strong mental image of the Rainforest and Rio De Janero.

Go ahead and bring my tally to 18 and bring in Australia as well. The world would be missing something immense without the Aussies.

Egypt and Israel are pretty distinct and essential also. Turkey and Iran are pretty strong in my mind as well.

That makes 22 for me which the world would seem incomplete without. All seven continents have cultures we can associate with global balance, but visualizing the countries themselves is a little more difficult.

1) USA
2) Great Britian
3) Ireland
4) China
5) Japan
6) Russia
7) Germany
8) Texas
9) Mexico
10) Australia
11) Indonesia
12) Canada

@Dutchess_III (8)?

@YARNLADY

@Dutchess_III omitted Kansas and California. ;-o

I was born in Texas. It’s a whole other country! :D

^^^ LOL
United States, U K, France, Japan, China, India, Sweden, Norway, Netherland, Israel, Turkey, Egypt

How could I have forgotten the Netherlands. :/

When you think about it, there are a LOT of places we would classify as most well known. It seems to me, however, that people should have a good mental image of such places, and that they have influenced the world community and world history in multiple ways.