Is there a definitive list of countries in the world? In short, no there is not, so how many countries in the world are there? Spoiler alert I will not be doing a list of countries in the world that have street food!
Although to read about the best street food in the world click here.
List of countries in the world – The UN List + 2
Many people, and might I add foolish people go by the UN+2 list. This is the 193 UN member nations, plus Taiwan and the Vatican City. Why is this list silly? Because it means if you go to French Guiana then you have been to France. Utter nonsense. Same vis a vi the Cayman Islands and the UK.
To read about if the Vatican City is a country click here
List of Countries and territories in the world
This is a contentious one, but ranges from 240-250, we obviously count all of them. Some “unrecognized countries” fall under this list, yet others do not. We include them.
How many unrecognized countries in the world are there?
This is a whole other article. Basically though this is where you would get Abkhazia, Donetsk and Somaliland for example. Palestine often gets included in both lists.
Essentially there are 8 unrecognized countries.
Weird additions on MY list
There are a few on my list that I know will be controversial. I count Sealand, they fit all the criteria that a country needs in my book. Try as I might though I have yet to go.
Bir Tawil – You can read my book “The Men In No Mans Land” here. The only place in the world that is unclaimed. So how can it count as a country then? Because you are “somewhere”, yet not in any nation state.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta – The only state in the world without land. They are also kind of members of the United Nations and have passports. You can visit their territory in both Rome and Malta.
To read about the SMOM click here.
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
A British military base in Cyprus, it is not Cyprus, nor the UK, nor even Northern Cyprus. It enjoys territoriality like the Cayman Islands, so counts on my list. Again some lists include this, others do not. of curse I include it
The FIFA Rules!
If you have a football team, I count you! Therefore there is no United Kingdom on my list. I realize that this could mean counting all different Emirates, or states of the US, but a line has to be drawn. I let FIFA be my line.
Is Antarctica a country?
You can read about if Antarctica is a country here. In short of course it is not, but if you go there you should be able to tick something off. I mean for the 193 club they would count having been to every country in the world, without visiting a whole continent. In my list Antarctica counts as one country.
How many countries in the world are there? There are 265 countries in the world
Therefore by my metric of visiting countries there are 265 in the world, I feel this number can and may well change. Indeed I previously counted Hutt River Province, until they rejoined Australia.
At some point I will bold the ones I have been to, but as this article is over 1000 words already that can be a job for another day.
Definitive list of countries in the world
I therefore present my definitive list of countries in the world. There are 265 and counting!
- Abkhazia
- Afghanistan
- Akrotiri and Dhekelia
- Åland Islands
- Albania
- Algeria
- American Samoa
- Andorra
- Angola
- Anguilla
- Antarctica
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Aruba
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bermuda
- Bhutan
- Bir Tawil
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Bouvet Island
- Brazil
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Brunei Darussalam
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chagos Islands
- Chile
- China
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Donetsk
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- England
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Faroe Islands
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- French Guiana
- French Polynesia
- French Southern Territories
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Greenland
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guam
- Guatemala
- Guernsey
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Heard Island and McDonald Islands
- Holy See/Vatican City
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Israel
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jersey
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of)
- Korea, Republic of
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lao People’s Democratic Republic
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luhansk
- Luxembourg
- Macao
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Martinique
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Mexico
- Micronesia (Federated States of)
- Moldova, Republic of
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Montserrat
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nagorno-Karabakh
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Niue
- Norfolk Island
- North Macedonia
- Northern Cyprus
- Northern Ireland
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestine, State of
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Pitcairn
- Poland
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Réunion
- Romania
- Russian Federation
- Rwanda
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French part)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Scotland
- Sealand
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- Somaliland
- South Africa
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- South Ossetia
- South Sudan
- Sovereign Military Order of Malta
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Svalbard and Jan Mayen
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Taiwan, Province of China
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania, United Republic of
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Transnistria
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
- United States Minor Outlying Islands
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
- Viet Nam
- Virgin Islands (British)
- Virgin Islands (U.S.)
- Wales
- Wallis and Futuna
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
And that is my lis of which countries there are in the world. Did I leave any out? Or are there any that I should add to the list?