How many countries in the world?

Factual Questions
1

This may sound like a simple questions, but I’ve been finding conflicting numbers varying from 193-196.

NORTH AMERICAN REGION (23 countries):
Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize,
El Salvadore, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama,
Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines,
Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago

SOUTH AMERICAN REGION (12 countries):
Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Peru,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay,
Chile, Argentina

EUROPEAN REGION (48 countries):
Iceland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Spain,
Andorra, France, Monaco, Malta, Italy,
Vatican City, San Marino, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria,
Luxemborg, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,
Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia-Hercegovinia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece,
Turkey, Cyprus, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia,
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan

AFRICAN REGION (53 countries):
Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco,
Mauritania, Mali, Sengal, The Gambia, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire,
Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger,
Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea,
Sao Tome & Principe, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Rep. of Congo, Angola,
Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya,
Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan,
Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles

ASIAN REGION (44 countries):
Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirites, Qatar,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakistan, Krysikistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan,
India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Mongolia, North Korea,
South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Phillipines, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,
Brunei, Indonesia, East Timor, Paupa New Guinea

AUSTRALIAN/OCEANIA REGION (13-16 countries):
Australia, New Zealand, Marshall Islands, Puala, Micronesia,
Nauru, Kiribiti, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji,
Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga

Tokelau? Niue? Cook Islands?

So, is everyone cool with 196? Or have I made a mistake? (Aside from some attrocious spelling errors I’m sure…)

2

I wouldn’t object. I think the number I hear most often is 193. This seems like a more complicated subject than you’d think a simple headcount would be. :wink: :wink:

3

The Tokelau Islands are still administered from New Zealand, but are moving toward independence. The Cook Islands are self-governing. Niue has responsibility for internal affairs, but New Zealand handles external affairs on request.

4

You counted Syria twice;) Down to 195 already!

There are many more countries than there are independent countries, which is what your OP is really asking. To take a non-controversial example, Scotland is a country that will not figure on a list such as the one you have assembled. The question is, what criteria must a country satisfy to get on the list? If it is US government recognition, then you would not list Taiwan and China as two separate entries. If you consider territories which are de facto independent, then you should include the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia, the southern half of Sudan. What about the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are not part of any of the countries listed (administered by Israel, but have not been annexed).

There is more to this question than meets the eye, and if you want an exact answer, the criteria need to be explicit.

5

I’ve heard as low as 185 and as high as 300. FWIW, the CIA World Handbook entry for “world” says 268 nations, though that is including territories and dependent areas.

Also, countries split, change names, combine, or whatever all the time. So take anything you hear with a grain of salt.

6

ISO 3166 is the international standard on country names, used by the United Nations, listing 239 countries. It isn’t limited to independent countries, though, as it includes Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Niue, and others.

For independent nations, the most common figure seems to be 193, those being the 191 UN member states plus Holy See and Taiwan.

7

matching that against the CIA Factbook list, and sifting out all the things which are possessions, semi-autonomous regions, etc, this seems pretty accurate. The two lists agree, shockingly enough. Antartica and Western Sahara seem to be the only largish leftover bits of real estate - Antarctica is nobody’s by current agreement (many nations are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, and nobody is pressing their claims), while it seems doubtful if we’re ever going to figure out whether Morocco gets to keep Western Sahara, gives a piece of it back to Mauritania, or lets it become an (n+1)st nation on this ever-shifting list.

8

Whats the deal with Croatia and Yugoslavia?
Doesnt Yuugoslavia not exist anymore?

9

Yugoslavia today consists of the ( somewhat loosely autonomous ) republics of Serbia and Montenegro.

The rest of the former Yugoslavia - Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia - are now fully independent.

  • Tamerlane
10

Yugoslavia? There is no such place.

11

…and so the world wends ever on - thanks for the correction tom :).

  • Tamerlane
12

Although there might be a Sealand

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32729

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45156

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74874

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26809

13

Antarctica.