Maybe you are one of those people who wants to see every country in the world? Maybe not? Either way it's interesting to see how countries are classified. We were never 'country counters' but as we reach the end of our days on the road, after 40 years with our back packs and 145 countries, I have to admit I am wanting to see the last few we have not seen so far. So, this list was helpful.
You would think it would be easy to answer that question, but not so. It took a lot of digging and finally using the UN guidelines plus several others. I like the free App "Been" which has a good list and a personal country counter. Check it out!
I believe there are 253 countries that fall into 4 categories.
195- Independent Nation states including the Vatican (the only non UN member) and Palestine.
55- Dependancies/Territories- mostly old colonies but still dependant on the colonial power. A hard group to count
1- Antarctica- a special territory - owned by no one but everyone.
2- Others- No-one knows how to classify these -Kosovo,Taiwan.
The disputed ones go to the dominant country, Tibet (China), Western Sahara (Morocco), Kuril Islands (Russia) and Kashmir (a line down the middle splits it between India and Pakistan)
And there are some that none owns that are not counted at all e.g. Spratly Islands
194 INDEPENDENT NATION STATES
AFRICA- 54
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea , Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ghana, The Gambia, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Liberia , Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Niger, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe ,Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leon, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
EUROPE- 45
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovinian, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova Monaco, Montenegro Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Merino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican,
THE AMERICAS-35
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Panama ,St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, , Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela
ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST- 46
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Qatar, Omen, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Syrian Arab Republic, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor- Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan UAE , Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC-14
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu,
55 DEPENDENCIES AND OTHER
AUSTRALIA- 5
Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island
CHINA-2
Hong Kong, Macau
DENMARK-2
Faroe Islands, Greenland
FRANCE-12
French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna
NETHERLANDS-6
Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten
NEWZEALAND-3
Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau
NORWAY-3
Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen Island, Svalbard
UNITED KINGDOM-15
Anguilla Bermuda,, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Monteseratt, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia, Turks and Caicos Islands
USA-7
American Samoa, Guam, Navassa Island, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, U.S. Minor Pacific Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
Not an independent entity or a dependency
Antarctica-1
| Seven nations (Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom) have territorial claims, but Antarctica is considered international territory. All land south of 60° S (South Shetlands, South Orkneys, Balleny Islands, Scott Island, and Peter I Island) is considered part of Antarctica plus some peri-Antarctic islands, north of 60° S (South Georgia, South Sandwiches etc) |
Kosovo-1
| Kosovo declared independence and many nations have recognized it. Serbia still considers it an integral part of their territory, and they, too, have the support of many nations. |
Palestinian Authority -1 | West bank and Gaza-These territories do not yet constitute an independent nation-state, nor is it correct to call them a dependency, despite effective Israeli control over some of the land. |
Taiwan-1
| Not a U.N. Member and not generally acknowledged as independent by the international community, but still not part of de-facto mainland China. |
Disputed | Disputed: Not counted in country total and could be considered as high as 15-20. Most of this disputed land is under the de-facto control of one country or another despite the disputed status. |
Western Sahara | Morocco controls the Western Sahara- so it is considered as Moroccan |
Kuril Islands | Controlled by Russia- so considered under Russia |
Kashmir | India and Pakistan have a line of control in Kashmir- splitting it in half |
Tibet | It was annexed by China and despite my personal objection has to be counted under China and no sadly longer disputed. |
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