How many countries are there in the world?
There are 195 countries by the most widely used count: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus its two observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine. Countries.World profiles 196, because it also includes Taiwan. Other bodies count differently, from 192 postal members to 249 ISO country codes.
Counts and recognitions reviewed 12 November 2026 · Sources & methodology
The short answer, and why it varies
No international body has the power to decide what is and is not a country. Statehood depends partly on facts on the ground—a population, a defined territory, a government that controls it—and partly on recognition by other states, which is a political decision each government makes for itself. That is why honest answers range from 193 to more than 200.
The 193 UN member states are the firmest list: each was admitted by a vote of the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. Adding the two non-member observer states gives 195. The Holy See, which governs Vatican City, has chosen not to seek membership; Palestine applied, but the United States vetoed its admission in April 2024. The General Assembly then gave Palestine extra rights, including a seat among the members from September 2024, but not a vote.
This site lists 196: the 195 plus Taiwan. Taiwan has its own elected government, armed forces, currency and passports, but it lost China’s UN seat in 1971 and is recognised by only 11 UN members and the Holy See. Listing it reflects how it actually functions and is not a position on its sovereignty. Kosovo, recognised by roughly 110 UN members, is the most common further addition; it is not profiled here.
Eight ways to count the world’s countries
Each figure below is correct for its own purpose. International sports bodies and standards organisations include territories with their own teams or codes, which is why their totals are higher than any political count.
| Definition | Count | Body | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| UN member states | 193 | United Nations | Full members with a vote in the General Assembly. Newest: South Sudan, 14 July 2011. |
| UN members + observer states | 195 | United Nations | Adds the Holy See (Vatican City) and the State of Palestine, the only two non-member observer states. The figure most sources quote. |
| This site | 196 | Countries.World | The 195 plus Taiwan, which governs itself but is not represented at the UN. |
| Universal Postal Union | 192 | UPU | Member countries of the postal union. |
| International Telecommunication Union | 194 | ITU | Member states; the 193 UN members plus the Holy See. |
| National Olympic Committees | 206 | IOC | Territories such as Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Guam, plus Kosovo, Palestine and Chinese Taipei. |
| Member associations | 211 | FIFA | Counts England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately, and many territories. |
| ISO 3166-1 country codes | 249 | ISO | Two-letter codes for countries, dependent territories and Antarctica. Kosovo has none. |
Two widely quoted references are missing from the table. The CIA World Factbook, long a standard source with about 260 countries and other entities, was discontinued on 4 February 2026 and removed from the CIA website; figures citing it are now frozen at its last edition. The US State Department’s list of independent states includes Kosovo and the Holy See but neither Palestine nor Taiwan; its 2021 edition counted 195, but the current total could not be confirmed from the department’s site, so it is not given here.
Map: UN members, observers and Taiwan
Natural Earth generalized boundaries. Dots locate countries too small to see at this scale. Select a country to explore its profile.
Areas left grey on the map are not counted as countries here. They include partially recognised states such as Kosovo, Somaliland and Northern Cyprus, Western Sahara, and dependent territories such as Greenland, Puerto Rico and New Caledonia.
How many countries are on each continent?
| Continent | Countries | UN members | Others included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 54 | 54 | — |
| Americas | 35 | 35 | — |
| Asia | 46 | 44 | Palestine, Taiwan |
| Europe | 47 | 46 | Vatican City |
| Oceania | 14 | 14 | — |
| World | 196 | 193 | Palestine, Taiwan, Vatican City |
Africa has the most countries, and every one of its 54 is a UN member. Oceania has the fewest: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and eleven Pacific island states. Continent totals elsewhere depend on convention. This site places Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Europe, and Türkiye, Kazakhstan and Cyprus in Asia; other atlases assign some of these differently, so a Europe count of 44 to 50 can be correct. The Americas are counted as one continent here; split in two, North America (including Central America and the Caribbean) has 23 countries and South America 12.
Partially recognised and unrecognised states
These entities claim independence and control at least part of the territory they claim, but are recognised by few or no UN members. Recognition counts change as governments switch position; where sources disagree, the range is given.
| Entity | Claim | Recognised by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | Republic of China, governing Taiwan since 1949 | 11 UN members and the Holy See (May 2026) | Lost its UN seat to the People’s Republic of China in 1971. Most states, including the United States, keep unofficial relations. Included on this site. |
| Palestine | Proclaimed 1988 | About 155–160 of 193 UN members (October 2026) | UN observer state since 2012, with extra rights since September 2024. Recognised by the UK, France, Canada, Australia and others in September 2025. Included on this site. |
| Kosovo | Declared independence from Serbia, 2008 | About 110 UN members; Kosovo says 120, Serbia says 84 | Member of the IOC and FIFA, not the UN. Five EU members (Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia) and Russia, China, India and Brazil do not recognise it. |
| Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) | Proclaimed 1976 | Roughly 35–45 UN members, falling | African Union member. Morocco controls most of the territory. Bolivia, Mali and Honduras suspended recognition in 2026. UN Security Council resolution 2797 (October 2025) backs talks on the basis of Morocco’s autonomy plan. |
| Northern Cyprus | Declared 1983 | Türkiye only | UN Security Council resolution 541 (1983) calls the declaration legally invalid. Internationally regarded as part of Cyprus. |
| Abkhazia | Declared independence from Georgia | Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria | Nauru (now Naoero) withdrew recognition in July 2026. Internationally regarded as part of Georgia. |
| South Ossetia | Declared independence from Georgia | Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria | Same four recognitions as Abkhazia since July 2026. |
| Somaliland | Declared 1991 | Israel only (since 26 December 2025) | Runs its own government, currency and passports; internationally regarded as part of Somalia. |
| Transnistria | Declared 1990 | No UN member | Recognised only by Abkhazia and South Ossetia; internationally regarded as part of Moldova. Russia keeps troops there but does not recognise it. |
The recent trend is towards fewer recognitions for most of these entities, with one exception: Palestine was recognised by Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia in 2024, and in September 2025 by the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, Portugal and five smaller European states. Somaliland received its first recognition, from Israel, in December 2025. Western Sahara’s situation shifted after the Security Council endorsed Morocco’s autonomy plan as the basis for talks in October 2025; a year later, on 30 October 2026, the Council failed to renew the UN mission there.
States in free association: the Cook Islands and Niue
The Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand. Each runs its own affairs and its own foreign policy, and New Zealand has no right of control; their people are New Zealand citizens, and New Zealand helps with defence and foreign affairs on request. Neither is a UN member, so they are not in the usual count of 195, but both are members of UN agencies such as the WHO and UNESCO, and both have diplomatic relations of their own: Niue with 28 countries as of April 2026, and the Cook Islands with more than 60.
The arrangement was tested in February 2025, when the Cook Islands signed agreements with China, including on deep-sea minerals, without consulting New Zealand first. New Zealand paused NZ$18.2 million in funding in June 2025 and resumed it after the two governments signed a defence and security declaration on 2 April 2026.
Places that are often mistaken for countries
- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are commonly called countries and field their own football teams, but the sovereign state is the United Kingdom.
- Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governing parts of the Kingdom of Denmark; Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions of China, with their own currencies, passports and Olympic teams.
- Puerto Rico, Guam and other US territories, and French Polynesia, New Caledonia and other French collectivities, belong to their sovereign states even though many have their own flags and sports teams.
- Antarctica has no country: territorial claims by seven states are set aside under the Antarctic Treaty.
These places explain most of the gap between 195 and the 249 ISO codes or 211 FIFA members. See the full list of 60 territories and other entities, with their status, population and area.
How the number of countries grew
The UN started in 1945 with 51 members. Today 49 of the 193 members carry a 1945 date; the other two founders, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, no longer exist. Membership grew in waves that mirror decolonisation and the end of the Cold War.
Current UN members by the decade of the admission date the UN lists for them (n = 193). Successor states that kept a seat, such as Russia, keep the original date.
- 1955: 16 countries, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria and Cambodia, were admitted on 14 December in a package deal that ended a Cold War deadlock.
- 1960: 17 countries joined in a single year, most of them newly independent French colonies in Africa, plus Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Somalia.
- 1991–1993: 26 admissions, most of them states that emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia; North and South Korea also joined in 1991, and the microstates Andorra, Monaco and San Marino in 1992–1993.
- Since 2000: only six: Tuvalu (2000), Serbia (2000), Switzerland and Timor-Leste (2002), Montenegro (2006) and South Sudan (2011).
| Country | Admitted to the UN |
|---|---|
| South Sudan | 14 July 2011 |
| Montenegro | 28 June 2006 |
| Timor-Leste | 27 September 2002 |
| Switzerland | 10 September 2002 |
| Serbia | 1 November 2000 |
| Tuvalu | 5 September 2000 |
| Kiribati | 14 September 1999 |
| Nauru | 14 September 1999 |
Will the count change? Bougainville, which voted for independence from Papua New Guinea in 2019, is negotiating its future; New Caledonia’s status remains under discussion with France. Neither has a fixed date. Names change more often than the count: Nauru asked the UN in 2026 to list it as Naoero, its name in Nauruan.
Frequently asked questions
How many countries are there in the world in 2026?
195 is the most widely used answer: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus the two UN observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine. Countries.World lists 196, adding Taiwan, which functions as an independent state but is not represented at the UN. No country has joined the UN since South Sudan in 2011.
Why do some sources say 193, 195, 197 or more?
They use different definitions. 193 counts UN members only; 195 adds the two observer states; some lists add Taiwan and Kosovo; sports and standards bodies count territories too, which is how FIFA reaches 211 and ISO 249. No single authority decides what a country is.
What is the newest country in the world?
South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan on 9 July 2011 and joined the UN on 14 July 2011. Kosovo declared independence more recently, in 2008, but it is not a UN member and is not recognised by many states.
Is Taiwan a country?
Taiwan has its own government, military, currency and passports, and controls its territory, but only 11 UN member states and the Holy See recognise it diplomatically, and it lost its UN seat in 1971. The People’s Republic of China claims it. This site includes Taiwan because it operates as a separate state, without taking a position on sovereignty.
Are England, Scotland and Wales countries?
They are called countries and play as separate national teams in football and rugby, but they are parts of one sovereign state, the United Kingdom, which holds the UN seat. Greenland and the Faroe Islands (Denmark) and Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten (Netherlands) are similar cases.
Which continent has the most countries?
Africa, with 54 countries, all of them UN members. On this site Europe has 47, Asia 46, the Americas 35 and Oceania 14. Totals for Europe and Asia depend on where transcontinental countries such as Russia, Türkiye and Cyprus are placed.
Sources & methodology
UN membership and admission dates come from the UN’s list of member states; decade counts are calculated from those dates. Continent counts use this site’s own continent assignments. Recognition figures are reported as ranges where trackers disagree, because there is no official register of recognitions. The counts of other organisations are taken from their own websites on 12 November 2026.
- United Nations: Member States
193 members with their admission dates, used for the timeline and decade counts. Lists Nauru under its new name, Naoero. Accessed 12 November 2026.
- UN Library: Non-member observer states
The Holy See (permanent observer since 1964) and the State of Palestine (observer state since resolution 67/19, 29 November 2012). Accessed 12 November 2026.
- UN: General Assembly backs membership of Palestine (resolution ES-10/23)
10 May 2024; 143–9–25 vote and additional rights from September 2024. The US vetoed admission in the Security Council on 18 April 2024.
- Orbis: Palestine recognition tracker
154 UN members by its strict count, October 2026, with 2024–2025 recognitions dated; AFP counts about 157. Belgium’s announced recognition not yet formalised.
- FIFA: member associations in focus
211 member associations; published 4 May 2026.
- IOC: National Olympic Committees
206 NOCs. The IOC provisionally lifted the Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension on 7 July 2026.
- Universal Postal Union: member countries
192 member countries. Accessed 12 November 2026.
- ITU: about the International Telecommunication Union
194 member states. Accessed 12 November 2026.
- AP: CIA ends publication of its World Factbook
4 February 2026. The Factbook covered about 260 countries and other entities; it and its archives were removed from cia.gov.
- Reuters: Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic allies
Factbox, 2 May 2026; no change since Nauru switched in January 2024.
- Wikipedia: International recognition of Kosovo
Used only for the competing counts (Kosovo 120, Serbia 84, third-party tallies about 110). Accessed 12 November 2026.
- UN Security Council resolution 2797 (2025) on Western Sahara
31 October 2025; 11–0–3. On 30 October 2026 the Council failed to renew the UN mission (MINURSO) (Security Council Report, 30 October 2026).
- Morocco World News and Anadolu: suspensions of SADR recognition
Mali (April 2026), Bolivia (February 2026), Honduras (April 2026); counts of remaining recognitions range from 33 to 46 depending on the list.
- Meduza: Nauru withdraws recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
30 July 2026; four UN members still recognise them.
- Al Jazeera: Israel’s recognition of Somaliland
27 December 2025; recognition announced 26 December. Guinea-Bissau denied a reported recognition in July 2026 (Mada Masr, 10 August 2026).
- Congressional Research Service: The Cook Islands and Niue, states in free association (IF12994)
6 May 2026. Status, foreign relations and the 2025 Cook Islands–China agreements.
- AP: New Zealand and Cook Islands sign a defence pact
2 April 2026; New Zealand resumed the aid paused in June 2025.
- Government of Niue: 18th government progress report 2023–2026
30 April 2026; diplomatic relations with 28 countries.
- AP: Nauru changes its name to Naoero
3 August 2026.
Country lists follow our 196-profile directory convention: 193 UN members, Vatican City, Palestine and Taiwan. Dependent territories are identified separately. A missing observation never means zero.