How many countries are there in the world? 195, and why other lists count more
There are 195 countries in the world by the usual count: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus its two non-member observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and the State of Palestine. The newest UN member is South Sudan, admitted on 14 July 2011. Other lists give other totals because they also count territories or disputed states.
Ask how many countries there are and you will hear 193, 195, 197 or even 249, and each number comes from a real list. This guide gives the answer most atlases and schools use, explains where it comes from, shows which places make the count uncertain and why code lists and sports bodies arrive at bigger numbers, and splits the 195 by continent with the counting rule stated. At the end you can find every one of them on a free interactive world map.
Key ideas
- The usual answer is 195: the 193 UN member states plus 2 observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine.
- South Sudan is the newest UN member, admitted on 14 July 2011; no state has joined since.
- Taiwan, Kosovo and Western Sahara are the best-known places that govern themselves or are recognised by some states but are not UN members.
- By the UN Statistics Division’s regions the 195 split as Africa 54, Asia 48, Europe 44, North America 23, South America 12, Oceania 14 and Antarctica 0.
How many countries are there in the world?
The most widely used answer is 195. The United Nations has 193 member states, each with one seat and one vote in the General Assembly, and it gives two more states the status of non-member observer states: the Holy See, which holds sovereignty over Vatican City, and the State of Palestine. Observers take part and speak in General Assembly meetings but do not vote. Add the two groups together and you get 195, the figure used by most atlases, school lessons and geography quizzes.
The UN started in 1945 with 51 original members and grew as colonies became independent and states split up. A new member is admitted by a decision of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. The newest member is South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan and was admitted on 14 July 2011. No state has been admitted since, so the figure of 193 has not changed for more than fifteen years.
The two observers reached that status by different routes. The Holy See has been a non-member observer state since 6 April 1964. Palestine was first an observer as the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974 and became a non-member observer state on 29 November 2012, when the General Assembly passed resolution 67/19. Observer status does not have to be permanent: Switzerland, for example, was an observer before it joined as a full member in 2002.
Why do some lists say there are more than 195 countries?
Because there is no single legal list of countries: every organisation counts what it needs, and a few places govern themselves without being UN members. Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, held China’s seat at the UN until 1971, when General Assembly resolution 2758 gave the seat to the People’s Republic of China; a 2007 application under the name Taiwan was not accepted. Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008; Serbia does not recognise it, more than half of the UN members do, and it belongs to the IMF and the World Bank but not to the UN. Western Sahara is disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic proclaimed by the Polisario Front, and the UN lists it as a non-self-governing territory.
Lists made for other purposes are longer still, because they include territories that belong to a country but sit apart from it, such as Greenland, Puerto Rico or Hong Kong. The international standard for country codes, ISO 3166-1, assigns codes to 249 countries, territories and areas, and the UN Statistics Division’s own statistical list, the M49 standard, has 248 countries or areas. FIFA, the world football body, has 211 member associations, because England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland play as separate teams and territories such as Hong Kong and Macao have their own.
So when a quiz, a passport stamp collection or a travel club gives a different total, check what it counts. If the list includes Taiwan and Kosovo you get 197; if it counts codes or football teams, you get 249 or 211. For a school answer, say 195 and name the rule: 193 UN members plus 2 observer states.
How many countries are there on each continent?
Using the regions of the UN Statistics Division and counting the 195 states, Africa has 54 countries, Asia 48, Europe 44, North America 23, South America 12, Oceania 14 and Antarctica none. The rule matters, because a continent is a matter of convention and several countries lie across two of them.
In this count Russia is placed in Europe, while Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Cyprus are in Asia and the whole of Egypt is in Africa. North America includes Central America and the Caribbean, from Canada and the United States down to Panama, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago. The Holy See is counted in Europe and the State of Palestine in Asia. An atlas that draws the lines differently, for example by putting Cyprus or Georgia in Europe, will give Europe a few more and Asia a few fewer.
Africa has the most countries of any continent, and South America the fewest of the inhabited ones: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. Oceania’s 14 are Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji and ten small island states. Antarctica has no countries at all; in the UN list it appears as an area, not as a state.
How to learn all 195 countries on a world map
The fastest way to learn the countries is on a map, one continent at a time. The free world map at VITON13 SCHOOL is an interactive map drawn from Natural Earth outlines, and its country list is exactly the 195 described here: the 193 UN members and the 2 observer states. Tap any country and you see its name, its capital and its flag. Tiny states such as the Holy See, Monaco or Nauru are shown as dots, so they are as easy to tap as Russia.
First choose a continent in the filter and go through its countries one by one; South America, with 12, is a good place to start, then Oceania and North America. Next, switch to the quiz “find the country on the map”: it names a country, you tap it, and your score shows how many you got right on that continent. Move on to Europe, Asia and Africa once a continent feels easy.
Finally, print the blank outline map and write the names in by hand, then check your sheet against the interactive map. When the shapes are familiar, learn the flags of the world in the flags quiz, which uses the same list of 195.
In everyday language
Think of the United Nations as a club with 193 members and two guests who may speak at meetings but not vote. Count the members and the guests and you get 195. A few places run their own affairs but have no seat in the club, which is why some lists say 197 or more.
Try it yourself
Open the world map, choose Oceania in the continent filter and tap every country until you have seen all 14, including the small island states shown as dots. Then play the quiz for Oceania.
Expected result
Fourteen countries, each with its name, capital and flag, and a quiz score for the continent.
Check your answer: In the UN regions Africa has 54 countries, Asia 48, Europe 44 and Oceania 14. How many are in the Americas, if the total is 195?
35: 195 − 54 − 48 − 44 − 14 = 35, that is 23 in North America (with Central America and the Caribbean) and 12 in South America.
Questions
What is the newest country in the world?
South Sudan. It became independent from Sudan in July 2011 and joined the United Nations on 14 July 2011 as its 193rd member; no state has been admitted since.
Is Vatican City a country?
Yes. The Holy See holds sovereignty over Vatican City, and it is one of the two non-member observer states of the UN, so it is one of the 195 countries even though it is not a UN member.
The answer to give is 195: 193 UN member states and 2 observer states. Open the free VITON13 SCHOOL world map, pick a continent, tap each country for its name, capital and flag, and play the quiz until you can find all 195.
Sources and further reading
- United Nations: Member States (the 193 members with their dates of admission) ↗Sources checked:
- Wikipedia: Member states of the United Nations (observer states, Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara) ↗Sources checked:
- UN Statistics Division: Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49), regions ↗Sources checked: