I have asked a few people this and they have all given different answers. Anybody know the real number? Do principalities such as Monaco count as countries??
by the way that should have read ‘definitive’ in the original thread
I honestly don’t think you can be given a definitive number, as there are no definite method of defining countries. But in the ballpark of 193, depending on definition used.
Over or about 234…yah, 234
There’s not an answer that everybody can agree on. However places like Monaco or Andorra are definitely considered independent countries on their own.
Wikipedia article discusses about this and gives some interesting lists of country characteristics.
My “internal list” always counted 192… but that was before the independence of East Timor, so I’ll go with 193, too.
As the linked article points out, naomi, for a “definitive” list of countries you’d also need a definition of “country”. But yes, small sovereign states like Monaco, San Marino or Palau are normally counted.