This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) is an annual competition for 16- to 19-year-old geography students from all over the world. Students chosen to represent their countries are some of the best, chosen from thousands of students who participate enthusiastically in their own National Geography Olympiads. iGeo tests the abilities of every participant in spatial patterns and processes. The iGeo consists of three parts: a written test, a multimedia test and a substantial fieldwork exercise requiring observation, leading to cartographic representation and geographical analysis. The programme also includes poster presentations by teams, cultural exchanges, and time for students to know their fellow students and explore the host city.

The International Geography Olympiad is organised by the International Geographical Union (IGU) Olympiad Task Force, who produce tests with reference to the local organisers and the international board.

After the first iGeo in 1996, it was recommended that the competition was held biennially. Due to the competition growing in popularity, since 2012 the competition has been held annually, rather than biennially, as is the case with the other large International Science Olympiads.

2024 International Geography Olympiad

The 2024 iGeo will be held in the Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth Post-Primary School. For the first time, Ireland will present a team to the competition, as the winners of the Geography Olympiad for Ireland will attend. The IGEO event is organised by the IGEO 2024 Local Organising Committee, chaired by Dr Susan Pike of Trinity College Dublin.

During the 1994 Congress of the International Geographical Union (IGU) in Prague, people from Poland and the Netherlands launched the idea of an International Geography Competition (iGeo) or Olympiad for students between 15 and 19 years of age. The first one was held in 1996 in The Hague, Netherlands, with five participating countries. The participant count grew to 24 countries with the 2008 competition in Carthage, Tunisia.

Before 2012, the International Science Olympiads were held every two years, and some regional geography Olympiads were held during intervening years.^[1] These include the Asia Pacific Regional Geography Olympiads (APRGO), which were held in 2007 (Hsinchu, Taiwan^[2][3]), 2009 (Tsukuba, Japan^[4]), and 2011 (Merida, Mexico^[5]), and the Central European Regional Geography Olympiads (CERIGEO). Since 2013, the International Geography Olympiad, in concordance with the other Olympiads, has been held on a yearly basis.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 iGeo in Istanbul, Turkey was postponed.^[6] The Olympiad was held in Istanbul between 11 and 15 August the following year, with 46 countries participating.^[7] The Olympiad was held online once again in 2022, hosted by Paris. It was the edition with the highest number of countries (54) and participants (209).^[8] In 2023, the iGeo returned to a physical format and it was held in Bandung, Indonesia.^[9] The next Olympiad is to be held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2025.

The countries and regions which participated in the 2023 International Geography Olympiad were:^[10]

The full list of participating teams for all past iGeos may be found on the iGeo website.

Number	Year	Host country	Host city	Individual Olympiad Champion	Best National Team	2nd National Team	3rd National Team	Nations	Participants
1	1996	Netherlands	The Hague	Belgium Steven Pattheeuws	Poland	Slovenia	Belgium	5	20
2	1998	Portugal	Lisbon	Poland Katarzyna Kwiecińska	Poland	Slovenia	Belgium	5	20
3	2000	South Korea	Seoul	Poland Adam Biliski	Poland	Netherlands	South Korea	13	52
4	2002	South Africa	Durban	Romania Florin Olteanu	Romania	Poland	Belarus	12	48
5	2004	Poland	Gdańsk	Poland Maciej Hermanowicz	Poland	Estonia	Romania	16	64
6	2006	Australia	Brisbane	Poland Jacek Próchniak	Poland	Estonia	Romania	23	92
7	2008	Tunisia	Carthage	Romania Barbu Ion Alexandru	Romania	Estonia	Australia	24	96
8	2010	Taiwan	Taipei	Romania Barbu Ion Alexandru	Singapore	Australia	Poland	27	108
9	2012	Germany	Cologne	Singapore Samuel Chua	Singapore	Romania	Poland	31	124
10	2013	Japan	Kyoto	Singapore Daniel Wong	Romania	Croatia	Singapore	32	128
11	2014[11]	Poland	Kraków	USA James Mullen	Singapore	Australia	Romania	36	144
12	2015	Russia	Tver	Taiwan Chang-Chin Wang	Poland	Romania	Taiwan	40	159
13	2016	China	Beijing	Thailand Wuttipat Kiratipaisarl	Australia	Singapore	Thailand	45	173
14	2017	Serbia	Belgrade	Romania Victor Vescu	Poland	Romania	USA	41	160
15	2018	Canada	Quebec City	Russia Alen Kospanov	Romania	Singapore	USA	43	165
16	2019	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	USA Albert Zhang	Indonesia	USA	United Kingdom	43	166
—	2020	Postponed for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
17	2021	Turkey	Istanbul (online)	Russia Rustam Bigildin	Russia	Singapore	Japan	46	180
18	2022	France	Paris (online)	Kazakhstan Sanzhar Khamitov	Singapore	Lithuania	Taiwan	54	216
19	2023	Indonesia	Bandung	Thailand Passakarn Leewongcharoen	Romania	Singapore	Hungary	45	177
20	2024	Ireland	Dublin and Maynooth	Romania David-Mihai Dumitrescu	USA	Australia	Indonesia	46	183
21	2025	Thailand	Bangkok	—	—	—	—	—	—
22	2026	Turkey	Istanbul	—	—	—	—	—	—

Place	National Team	1st, 2nd, 3rd	Years Champions (Teams Participating)	Years Runners Up (Teams)	Years 3rd Place (Teams)
1st	Poland	7, 1, 1	1996 (5), 1998 (5), 2000 (13), 2004 (12), 2006 (23), 2015 (40), 2017 (41)	2002 (12)	2012 (31)
2nd	Romania	5, 3, 2	2002 (12), 2008 (24), 2013 (32), 2018 (43), 2023 (45)	2012 (31), 2015 (40), 2017 (41)	2006 (23), 2014 (36)
3rd	Singapore	4, 4, 1	2010 (27), 2012 (31), 2014 (36), 2022 (54)	2016 (45), 2018 (43), 2021 (46), 2023 (45)	2013 (32)
4th	Australia	1, 3, 1	2016 (45)	2010 (27), 2014 (36), 2024 (46)	2008 (24)
5th	USA	1, 1, 2	2024 (46)	2019 (43)	2017 (41), 2018 (43)
6th	Indonesia	1, 0, 1	2019 (43)	—	2024 (46)
7th	Russia	1, 0, 0	2021 (46)	—	—
8th	Estonia	0, 3, 0	—	2004 (12), 2006 (23), 2008 (24)	—
9th	Slovenia	0, 2, 0	—	1996 (5), 1998 (5)	—
10th (tied)	Lithuania	0, 1, 0	—	2022 (54)	—
10th (tied)	Croatia	0, 1, 0	—	2013 (32)	—
10th (tied)	Netherlands	0, 1, 0	—	2000 (13)	—
13th (tied)	Taiwan	0, 0, 2	—	—	2015 (40), 2022 (54)
13th (tied)	Belgium	0, 0, 2	—	—	1996 (5), 1998 (5)
15th (tied)	Japan	0, 0, 1	—	—	2021 (46)
15th (tied)	Hungary	0, 0, 1	—	—	2023 (45)
15th (tied)	Thailand	0, 0, 1	—	—	2016 (45)
15th (tied)	United Kingdom	0, 0, 1	—	—	2019 (43)
15th (tied)	South Korea	0, 0, 1	—	—	2000 (13)
15th (tied)	Belarus	0, 0, 1	—	—	2002 (12)

Place	Nation	Wins	World Champions Produced (Year)
1st	Romania	5	David-Mihai Dumitrescu (2024), Victor Vescu (2017), Barbu Ion Alexandru (2010, 2008), Florin Olteanu (2002)
2nd	Poland	4	Jacek Próchniak (2006), Maciej Hermanowicz (2004), Adam Biliski (2000), Katarzyna Kwiecińska (1998)
3rd (tied)	Singapore	2	Daniel Wong (2013), Samuel Chua (2012)
3rd (tied)	USA	2	James Mullen (2014), Albert Zhang (2019)
3rd (tied)	Russia	2	Alen Kospanov (2018), Rustam Bigildin (2021)
3rd (tied)	Thailand	2	Wuttipat Kiratipaisarl (2016), Passakarn Leewongcharoen (2023)
7th (tied)	Taiwan	1	Chang-Chin Wang (2015)
7th (tied)	Belgium	1	Steven Pattheeuws (1996)
7th (tied)	Kazakhstan	1	Sanzhar Khamitov (2022)

• Official website