How Many Countries In The World?

Countries in the World – There are 193 memberships of the United Nations and two non-member witness states: the Holy See Vatican City and Palestine. So, the number 195 is too often used to signify the number of countries in the world. There are 61 dependent areas and six doubtful territories. Places commonly disordered as countries include Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Greenland, and even parts of the United Kingdom.

The only foreign country, Taiwan, fulfils most of the supplies for an independent country or state status. However, for political reasons, much of the world does not recognize it, so the majority is 196. Another non-UN country that can be clearly defined as a “sovereign” country or state is Kosovo.

It all be contingent on how you want to define the word country. Some like to comprise Western Sahara, Somaliland and other countries with dubious or not fully recognized status to brand a round number like 200. And South Sudan, Kosovo, Montenegro and East Timor are the youngest countries in the world. Though another way of looking at it is that Uganda is the newest country in the world since 50% of the population is under 14 years of age. By these rights, Italy is the oldest.

Apply online for visa-free entry to the United States, you have more than 250 options for the “Country where you live”. That’s probably quite an ambitious number. However, no one knows the correct answer, and it’s a tricky question because, in doing so, you take to define what makes a country.

Since it includes Bouvet Island, an uninhabitable icy mound belonging to Norway in the South Atlantic (for those penguins who need a visa) and for Star Trek fans, there’s even a “neutral zone” ( a diamond-shaped area). Piece of desert between Saudi Arabia and Iraq that disappeared after the 1991 Gulf War).

What Is A Country?

The Oxford Dictionary describes a country as “a state with its government inhabiting a particular territory”. The Britannica Dictionary gives a similar definition.

Temporarily, the Cambridge Dictionary defines a country as “an area of land which has its government, army, etc.”

How Many Countries In The World? UN Definition

So in what way many countries are there in the world? The finest place to start is with the United Nations membership list. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty comprehensive and includes most countries in the world.

193 UN member states

Two observer states not members of the United Nations General Assembly (Palestine, Holy See)

Two eligible non-member states (Cook Islands, Niue)

If you add all that up, you become total of 193, 195, or 197 countries. Below the narrower definition (UN membership), there would be 193 countries, or under the broader definition (all eligible states), there would be 197.

I also don’t think it’s fair to exclude a country from the total just because it’s not a member of the UN, as long as it’s eligible for membership and meets all the criteria for existence considered a country, so it makes sense to say that there is a total of 197 countries.

So here it is, 197 countries! We’re complete, aren’t we? Error. There remains the question of Kosovo and Taiwan, which the UN does not recognize. So how do we classify them?

Is Taiwan A Country? Yeah

In 1949, communist forces seized control of mainland China in a civil war, driving out the ROC leaders and their supporters, who fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan).

Since then, Taiwan has remained an independently governed country with its flag, currency, army, constitution, widely accepted passport, and independently elected president.

Taiwan was an early founding member of the United Nations and was still recognized as China’s sole legitimate representative by most UN members until the 1970s when mainland Chinese influence began to increase, and Taiwan excluded it from the elections. The UN on his behalf.

Today, China is trying to claim ownership of Taiwan, and it gets complicated when someone calls Taiwan a country. The rest of the world wants to reservation its relationship with mainland China, which is now an economic powerhouse and is, therefore, reluctant to recognize Taiwan.

13 UN member states officially recognize Taiwan and have unofficial relations with around 100 countries, including the United States and Japan. The only reason the UN does not consider it formally a nation is because of politics.

Is Kosovo a country? Yeah

Kosovo broke away from the European country of Serbia in 2008 and has acted as an independent country ever since. They have their flag, passport, armed forces and constitution.

Although Kosovo diplomatically recognizes as a sovereign state by 101 United Nations member states, it has not been allowed to become a member of the UN or the European Union because Serbia continues to lay claim to Kosovo. Politics is the only aim anyone would deny that Kosovo is a country. However, Kosovo is an independent country in every sense of the word, so it makes sense to include it in the total number.