Fill in Yakko's Nations of the World Quiz

Answer:

"Yakko's World" is a song from "The Animaniacs", a cartoon I watched when I was a kid. As much as I love the song (I've even memorized it), there are some things about it that are outdated. The list of countries isn't complete, and doesn't only include countries. Of course, the question of "how many nations (or countries) are there?" isn't as straightforward as you may think. Different trivia sites, reference books, and international organizations will say there are different numbers of countries. Not even countries agree how many countries there are!

Even if we decide on a common list (like the United Nations members), the list of countries has changed since 1993. Some countries on the list have changed into two, like Czechia and Slovakia, which used to be "Czechoslovakia." Sometimes they join back together! That's what the line means about "Germany, now in one piece" - East and West Germany split into two countries for a few decades after World War II. And several countries have changed their name, like Kampuchea (now known as Cambodia).

There are lots of overseas territories as well, most of them owned by European countries. A country that acts independent of the rest of the country is "autonomous," meaning it's in control of itself. Some autonomous territories control themselves, while still belonging to another country. Adults often confuse some of these for countries, like Greenland (part of Denmark) and Bermuda (part of Britain). A funny one is "San Juan" - the capital of Puerto Rico - which is itself a territory of the U.S.!

Finally, there have been NEW countries since this song was written! Of course, there are probably even more new countries by the time you're playing this. At the time I'm writing, some of the new U.N. members are Eritrea (formerly part of Ethiopia), Palau (a Pacific island) and Timor-Leste (near Indonesia). It turns out "Yakko's World" isn't really a good way to memorize countries - but it's a great way to learn a lot of important places!

In 2017, the guy who voices Yakko, Robert Paulsen (who sounded exactly the same 24 years later) noticed all the changes, and sang an updated version of the song! Here's how that goes:

"Montenegro and Bosnia, Herzegovina, the Soviet Union is gone.
South Africa, Georgia, Moldova, Latvia, Belarus, Azerbaijan.
Uzbekistan - hey! - Kazakhstan - hey! - then there's Tajikistan too.
Turkmenistan - hey! - Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Tonga, Palau.
Lithuania, Serbia, Kosovo, U.S. Samoa, the Balkans, Brunei,
Macau and Crimea, then Eritrea...
Ukraine and Estonia, here's Macedonia,
New Caledonia, then Eastern Slavonia,
Ivory Coast and Cape Verde, Andorra, the Solomon Islands, Dubai!"

How much of "Yakko's World" can you memorize? Can you make a version that's even more up-to-date than this?