Worldly | How many countries does the world count? List of countries + population

How many countries does the world have? And why can't you find a conclusive answer anywhere on the internet about exactly how many countries there are in the world? Counting all the countries in the world, isn't that difficult at all? Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is a lot more complicated than you might expect. In this article, we will explain what a country is exactly and what the difference is between recognized and unrecognized countries.

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What is a country?

Having an country, stayed of nation is a territory with a population and a government, which makes the rules and can use force if necessary. Each country must be recognized by other countries. This means that they (the other countries) agree that the country exists. If that happens, it could be part of the United Nations (UN), the collection of all countries. Not always all countries recognize a country, as is the case with Taiwan.

Disagreements about countries

It's actually kind of the same story as with the number of continents or continents that the world counts: there is quite a bit of disagreement about it.. The number of countries in the world is also often subject to change, for example due to wars or conflicts. Because countries often do not (want to) recognize each other or because 'dependent states' are included in one list and the other list does not, there is another difference.

So there is a difference between the number of countries in the world that are actually recognized by the United Nations and the number of countries that have declared themselves as countries. Therefore, in this article we have three different lists made in which you can see exactly which countries are or are not (in)dependent, which are recognized or not and also a total list of all countries in the worldregardless of their official or unofficial status.

Countries Recognized by United Nations

if you all worldwide adding countries accepted and countries 'recognised' by the United Nations, you arrive at 195 countries† At least that is at the time of update. I am mentioning this specifically because even at the time of writing in 2021 and updating now in February 2022, the number has been reduced from 196 to 195 countries. It is not entirely clear to me which country has been removed from the list, because there is nothing news or information about it. When I know more I will add this to the article.

List | all 195 countries recognized by the UN

The list is sorted by population / number of inhabitants. The breakdown by world is as follows:

• Africa † 54 Countries
• Asia † 48 countries
• Europe † 44 countries
• Latin-America & Caribbean † 33 countries
• Oceania † 14 countries
• North America † 2 countries

Unrecognized or dependent countries

You may think that the unrecognized countries in the world are mainly rogue states that are therefore not recognized by the UN (United Nations). Unfortunately that is not the case.

Disagreement about recognition

Taiwan is a good example of that. Taiwan is a country we all know, but it is not officially recognized as a country. In 1945, Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China† Taiwan is not recognized as an independent country by the Communist People's Republic of China and the Communist government sees Taiwan as a province of the People's Republic of China. China still claims the country in 2021. Taiwan also claims to be independent in 2021.

In October 2021, China once again flexed its muscles with its many fighter jets. Taiwan fears war with China. †source).

For example, there are more examples of countries that are actually independent, but are not recognized. These countries actually all live in uncertainty.

Invasion of Russia in Ukraine

Then there is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is currently a recognized country, but it seems that Ukraine as we know it is coming to an end. Putin has said several times live on TV that he plans to completely demilitarize Ukraine and overthrow the government. In effect, this means that Ukraine will no longer exist in its current form and that its borders may be revised. Perhaps the country as a whole will even become part of Russia after this war and we will have to cross another country off the country list. Time will tell.

All we can do now is hope that the war will be over soon, without too many casualties.

Dependent countries

In addition, there are also a number of dependent countries or territories that do not officially have their own country status because they are still highly dependent on another country. The Dutch Antilles is a good example of this. Similar dependencies can also be found in the list below.

List | 40 dependent or unrecognized countries

The list of 40 dependent or unrecognized countries is listed below by population / number of inhabitants.

All countries of the world

Leaving aside the disagreement or recognition of countries, we arrive at a total of 235 countries. The entire list of all countries in the world sorted by population / number of inhabitants can be seen below.

List | All 235 countries of the world

Closing comments

Now that you know exactly what all countries in the world mean, you may have become curious about other fun facts and trivia about the world. Do you want to know more about the world and everything that goes with it? Then take a look at our Globally page† Below are a number of relevant links to articles that might be of interest to you.

• Worldly | 7 continents or continents – Everything you need to know
• Worldly | The 25 largest islands in the world by land area
• Worldly | All countries in Africa + number of inhabitants per country
• Worldly | The safest and most dangerous countries in Europe
• Worldly | The Safest and Most Dangerous Countries in Africa
• World wise | Information about the world | Continents, countries and facts

Did you find a mistake in this article or do you have something to add? Then let us know in the comments! We will try to answer your question as soon as possible.