How many countries are there in the world?

Maybe you’re one of those people who dreams of seeing every country in the world. Maybe not. Either way, it’s fascinating to look at how “countries” are actually classified. We were never country counters ourselves, but now — after 40 years on the road, backpacks on our shoulders, and 175 countries behind us — I have to admit I’m curious about the few we haven’t reached yet. So this list became surprisingly helpful.

You’d think the answer would be simple, but it isn’t. After a lot of digging, comparing sources, and using the UN guidelines (plus several others), I settled on a classification that feels both practical and fair. I also like the free app “Been”, which has a solid list and an easy personal country counter — worth checking out.

Using this broader approach, I believe there are 253 countries, grouped into four 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.