World Geography: previous-year questions

Answer: (A) Diego Garcia

Answer as of 2022 — this may have changed since.

Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory, hosts a joint US–UK naval and air base in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Mauritius has long claimed the Chagos Islands, and in 2025 the UK agreed to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius while keeping the Diego Garcia base on a long lease. Madagascar, off south-east Africa, is the world's fourth-largest island and an independent country. The Philippines lie in the western Pacific, not the Indian Ocean.

Answer: (A) 2.4 per cent

India's land area of roughly 3.29 million sq km amounts to about 2.4% of the world's total land area.

Answer: (C) seventh

India is the world's seventh-largest country by land area, following Russia, Canada, the USA, China, Brazil and Australia.