How many countries do you think there are in the world? That question might be harder to answer than you would expect. The United Nations is an organization made up of countries from around the world. These countries work together to maintain peace, promote sustainable development, protect human rights, uphold international law and deliver humanitarian aid to people in need. Depending on who is counting and which definition you are using, there are between 193 and 209 countries in the world. Most of them are members of the United Nations, but not all of them. Part of that is because there are so many definitions of what a country is. Here’s how that all works:
According to the U.N., there are 195 Sovereign States. These are countries that have clearly defined borders and independent governments. Of the 195 countries, 193 of them are members of the United Nations. The other two are called Observer States. They are Vatican City and Palestine.
There are six other countries that are not members of the U.N. but are recognized by at least one country that is a U.N. member. These countries are Taiwan, Western Sahara, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Northern Cyprus. All six of these are claimed by other countries but aren’t controlled by them. For example China claims Taiwan as a territory.
When it comes to the Olympics, there are 206 nations that compete. Countries don’t have to be independent nations to compete in the Olympics so the list includes some dependent territories — many of these include U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and and U.K. territories like Bermuda. All of the U.N. member countries are represented in the Olympics.
Soccer fans will tell you that there are 209 FIFA countries that are able to compete in the league though only a few get to compete for the World Cup. Not all U.N. members have teams that compete in the FIFA league but 186 of them do.
Even more interesting, when it comes to the Internet, there are more than 249 country codes. That is because the codes are used for countries as well as nearly-independent states, overseas territories, uninhabited islands and even Antarctica.
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