Determining the number of countries in the world is complex due to the changing political landscape and fluid interpretation of the term ‘countries’. The United Nations recognizes 193 states, while the Montevideo Convention’s criteria would place the number at 201, including eight states not recognized by the UN. A broader definition could include up to 230 countries, including constituent countries and territories. The number of countries is uncertain, but commonly accepted as 193, with a range of 193-250.
While it would seem like a pretty simple matter to determine how many countries there are in the world, it’s actually quite complex. This is not only due to the ever-changing political landscape, but also because the term ‘countries’ is somewhat fluid and open to interpretation.
A narrow definition of what a country is might take a well-established group, such as the United Nations, and take its list of recognized members. In the case of the United Nations, there are 193 recognized states, of which 192 are members of the United Nations, and Vatican City, which is a permanent observer with all the rights of a member except the right to vote.
One could also take an established definition of what a state is and find all states that fit those criteria. The most accepted definition is given by the Montevideo Convention, of 1933. According to these guidelines, a state must have a government, be able to interact diplomatically with other states, have a defined territory and possess a permanent population. A rough count of these states would place the number of countries in the world at 201. This includes the 193 states recognized by the United Nations and eight other states. These are Western Sahara, Taiwan, Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. These states meet the criteria established by the Montevideo Convention, but are all fighting with another larger state, for independence, and have so far not been formally recognized by the United Nations.
An even broader definition might include some states that have been recognized by a number of countries, but have failed to establish stable government or have not been recognized by enough other states to truly meet the criteria of the Montevideo Convention . By adding states like the Cook Islands, Palestine or the Chechen Republic, one could reach a much larger number of countries in the world, somewhere in the range of 210-230.
Going even more broadly, one can include countries that are part of a larger country, sometimes referred to as constituent countries. An obvious example of this would be the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which constitute the one country of the United Kingdom. In most country counts of the world, these four countries are counted as one, but they could easily be counted as four. Including these kinds of countries there could be many hundreds, if not thousands, of countries in the world, especially if you start counting smaller states, like California or Delaware in the US, as independents in their own right.
Similarly, territories – such as the territory of Guam, a possession of the United States – are not usually counted in an official tally, but have been according to many criteria. These are referred to by the United Nations as non-self-governing territories and include 16 other territories.
So how many countries are there in the world? 193 from the UN count. 193 also by the U.S. State Department count. 201 from a restrictive interpretation of the Montevideo Conventions. Somewhere over 220 gives a freer interpretation. And if we were to go by the number of countries that have their own domain suffix – like .us for the US or .de for Germany – we’d find 243. So there’s no definitive answer, but 193 is commonly accepted, and by somewhere between 193 and 250 seems pretty certain.
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