REST Countries Scraper

Get comprehensive data for 250 countries — population, currencies, languages, capitals, flags, timezones, borders, and more. Filter by region or search by name.

What does REST Countries Scraper do?

REST Countries Scraper fetches structured country data from the REST Countries API. Get all 250 countries at once, filter by region (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania), or search by country name. Results are sorted by population for easy analysis.

Each country includes official and native names, ISO codes, capital city, population, area, currencies with symbols, languages, timezones, bordering countries, flag images (PNG and SVG), coat of arms, map links, and more.

Why use REST Countries Scraper?

• 250 countries — complete global coverage with rich metadata
• Multiple modes — get all, filter by region, or search by name
• Flag images — PNG and SVG flag URLs plus emoji flags
• Currency details — codes, names, and symbols for every currency
• Language data — all official languages with ISO codes
• Geographic data — borders, timezones, area, map links, continents

Use cases

• Educational resources — build geography quizzes, flashcards, or reference tools
• Data enrichment — add country metadata to your datasets
• Localization — get currencies, languages, and timezones for i18n
• Analytics dashboards — visualize population, area, and regional distribution
• Travel apps — show country info, flags, currencies, and driving side
• Research — compare countries by population, borders, UN membership

How to scrape country data

1. Go to the REST Countries Scraper page on Apify
2. Choose a Mode: all countries, filter by region, or search by name
3. Click Start and wait for the run to finish
4. Download your data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
mode	string	No	all	Selection mode: all, region, or search
region	string	No	Europe	Region filter (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania)
searchQuery	string	No	—	Country name to search for (partial matches work)

Example input

{
    "mode": "region",
    "region": "Europe"
}

Output example

Each country returns comprehensive structured data:

{
    "name": "Germany",
    "officialName": "Federal Republic of Germany",
    "nativeNames": ["Bundesrepublik Deutschland"],
    "alpha2Code": "DE",
    "alpha3Code": "DEU",
    "capital": "Berlin",
    "region": "Europe",
    "subregion": "Western Europe",
    "population": 83240525,
    "area": 357114,
    "currencies": "EUR (€)",
    "currencyDetails": [{ "code": "EUR", "name": "Euro", "symbol": "€" }],
    "languages": "German",
    "languageDetails": [{ "code": "deu", "name": "German" }],
    "timezones": ["UTC+01:00"],
    "borders": ["AUT", "BEL", "CZE", "DNK", "FRA", "LUX", "NLD", "POL", "CHE"],
    "flagPng": "https://flagcdn.com/w320/de.png",
    "flagSvg": "https://flagcdn.com/de.svg",
    "flagEmoji": "🇩🇪",
    "coatOfArms": "https://mainfacts.com/media/images/coats_of_arms/de.png",
    "googleMaps": "https://goo.gl/maps/mD9FBMq1nvXUBrkv6",
    "openStreetMaps": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/51477",
    "independent": true,
    "unMember": true,
    "landlocked": false,
    "startOfWeek": "monday",
    "carSide": "right",
    "continents": ["Europe"],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-03-03T05:36:58.638Z"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Common country name
officialName	string	Official country name
nativeNames	array	Native name(s) in local language(s)
alpha2Code	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g., US, DE)
alpha3Code	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code (e.g., USA, DEU)
capital	string	Capital city name
region	string	Geographic region
subregion	string	Geographic subregion
population	number	Total population
area	number	Area in square kilometers
currencies	string	Summary of currencies with symbols
currencyDetails	array	Detailed currency info (code, name, symbol)
languages	string	Summary of languages
languageDetails	array	Detailed language info (code, name)
timezones	array	All timezones
borders	array	Bordering country codes (alpha-3)
flagPng	string	PNG flag image URL
flagSvg	string	SVG flag image URL
flagEmoji	string	Flag emoji
coatOfArms	string	Coat of arms image URL
googleMaps	string	Google Maps link
openStreetMaps	string	OpenStreetMap link
independent	boolean	Whether the country is independent
unMember	boolean	UN member status
landlocked	boolean	Whether the country is landlocked
startOfWeek	string	Start day of the week
carSide	string	Driving side (left/right)
continents	array	Continent(s) the country belongs to
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of extraction

How much does it cost to scrape country data?

REST Countries Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Price
Run started	$0.001
Country extracted	$0.0005 per country

Cost examples

Scenario	Cost
All 250 countries	$0.126
Europe (53 countries)	$0.0275
Search for "united"	~$0.003

Use with AI agents via MCP

REST Countries Scraper is available as a tool for AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Setup for Claude Code

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com"

Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
        }
    }
}

Example prompts

• "Get country data for all European countries"
• "What is the population and GDP of Japan?"

Learn more in the Apify MCP documentation.

Using the Apify API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("YOUR_USERNAME/rest-countries-scraper").call(
    run_input={"mode": "region", "region": "Europe"}
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['flagEmoji']} {item['name']} — {item['capital']} — pop: {item['population']:,}")

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('YOUR_USERNAME/rest-countries-scraper').call({
    mode: 'region',
    region: 'Europe',
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(item => {
    console.log(`${item.flagEmoji} ${item.name} — ${item.capital} — pop: ${item.population.toLocaleString()}`);
});

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~rest-countries-scraper/runs" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mode": "region", "region": "Europe"}'

Integrations

Connect REST Countries Scraper to your workflow with Apify integrations:

• Webhooks — trigger actions when extraction completes
• Google Sheets — export country data to spreadsheets
• Zapier / Make — connect to 5,000+ apps and services
• REST API — call the actor programmatically from any language

Tips and best practices

• Use "all" mode to get the complete dataset of 250 countries in one run
• Results are sorted by population (largest first) for easy analysis
• Search mode supports partial matches — searching "united" finds United States, United Kingdom, UAE, etc.
• Flag URLs are hosted on reliable CDNs and can be used directly in applications
• Border codes are in alpha-3 format — use with the alpha3Code field to resolve names

Legality

Scraping publicly available data is generally legal according to the US Court of Appeals ruling (HiQ Labs v. LinkedIn). This actor only accesses publicly available information and does not require authentication. Always review and comply with the target website's Terms of Service before scraping. For personal data, ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable privacy regulations.

FAQ

Search mode returns no results — what should I try? Search uses partial matching on common country names. Try the official English name (e.g., "United States" not "USA", "United Kingdom" not "UK"). The REST Countries API matches against the common name field.

Some countries have empty borders arrays — is this a bug? No. Island nations and territories (e.g., Japan, Australia, Iceland) have no land borders, so the array is empty by design.

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