# What has been the greatest number of countries in existence, at one point in time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023 "2012-03-17T02:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/1 "2012-03-17T02:13:04Z")
There is around 200 sovereign states [193-206] currently. Is this the highest ever number, or have we had a higher number of ““countires”” ? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/2 "2012-03-17T02:23:43Z")
I think it probably is, but there are definitional problems, especially looking back at a pre-UN era. I’m thinking that the presence of pre-unification European (Germany, Spain, Italy) and South Asian principalities will be balanced by the absence of organized states in Africa or (earlier) South America. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/3 "2012-03-17T03:33:05Z")
If you count the Indian princely states as countries then I think somewhere around 1920 would win. In 1920 the SSR’s had not yet merged into the USSR. There was several hundred Indian Princely states, Europe was still individual nations, colonial Nations were established by then in Africa and South America. There was also lots of oddities, like the Free City of Danzig, Free State of Fiume etc etc that seemed to exist for only a few years around that time. See here: > **[List of sovereign states in the 1920s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_1920)** > > This is a list of sovereign states in the 1920s, giving an overview of states around the world during the period between 1 January 1920 and 31 December 1929. It contains entries, arranged alphabetically, with information on the status and recognition of their sovereignty. It includes widely recognized sovereign states, and entities which were de facto sovereign but which were not widely recognized by other states. > > Australia administered two League of Nations mandates: ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/4 "2012-03-17T03:34:23Z")
By any useful definition of country, today’s the day. However, a broader definition of state could give you thousands at about 1500 BC ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/5 "2012-03-17T03:44:25Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > By any useful definition of country, today’s the day. > However, a broader definition of state could give you thousands at about 1500 BC Sovereignty has a fairly clear definition in the 20th century, and the British empire recognized the 120 Salute states as being Sovereign entities, so I’m going to claim that with the modern definition of Sovereignty, 1920 is it. Someone else can actually work out the total. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-been-the-greatest-number-of-countries-in-existence-at-one-point-in-time/616023/6 "2012-03-17T07:16:10Z")
There’s too much ambiguity in definitions to get a clear answer. For example, what of the Holy Roman Empire? It is written that “The Treaty of Westphalia, signed October 24, 1648, allowed the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire into more than three hundred sovereign states.” Is this a reasonable claim? I don’t know: count the states listed in [the Treaty of Westphalia](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westphal.asp) yourself! 😃