ExploMaps
How many countries are there in the world?
There are 193 UN member states, but many counts land on 195 or 197. See how the lists differ, which places are left out and how to count what you've visited.
Ask five people how many countries there are and you may get five answers: 193, 195, 197, 206 or something over 240. They aren't all wrong. They are counting different things.
This matters if you keep a list of the countries you've visited, because the total decides your percentage. Here is how the main counts work, and which one to use.
The short answer
- 193 is the number of United Nations member states. It is the most widely quoted official figure.
- 195 adds the two UN observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine.
- 197 adds Taiwan and Kosovo, which govern themselves but are not UN members. This is the count Explo uses.
The 193 UN member states
Membership of the United Nations is the clearest test most lists use. The newest member is South Sudan, which joined in 2011 and brought the total to 193. Membership is decided by the UN, so it avoids arguments about who recognises whom, but it also leaves out places that most people would call a country in everyday conversation.
The two observer states
The Holy See, which governs Vatican City, and the State of Palestine are "non-member observer states" at the UN. They can take part in debates but don't have a vote. The Holy See has held that status for decades, and the General Assembly granted it to Palestine in 2012. Vatican City is a country you can visit in an afternoon, so most travellers want it on their list, and Palestine is a place many people travel to, which is why most lists that go beyond the 193 include both.
Taiwan and Kosovo
Taiwan has its own government, borders, currency and passport. It is not a UN member, because the seat once held by the Republic of China passed to the People's Republic of China in 1971, and many countries don't have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Many countries recognise it, but not all, and it is not a UN member either.
Whether to count them is a political question as much as a travel one. Explo counts them because a traveller who has been to either has clearly been somewhere, and the passport rules for entering are their own.
Why the numbers differ
- Sovereignty versus recognition. Some lists count only places the UN recognises. Others count places that run their own affairs.
- Territories and dependencies. Greenland, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Macau, Bermuda and many islands belong to or are linked to another state. Some lists count them separately, which is how totals climb past 240.
- Travel clubs. Some clubs publish lists of more than 300 "countries and territories" because they count places that feel distinct to a traveller, such as remote islands.
- Disputed regions. A handful of places are claimed by more than one country, so counting them depends on whose claim you accept.
How Explo counts
Explo counts the 197 sovereign countries described above. Its map has 243 entries, because territories and tiny islands are drawn too. You can mark them as visited, but they don't count toward your percentage. Here is the split by continent:
| Continent | Countries counted |
|---|---|
| Africa | 54 |
| Asia | 48 |
| Europe | 46 |
| North America | 23 |
| Oceania | 14 |
| South America | 12 |
| Total | 197 |
Continent totals depend on where you draw the lines. Countries that span two continents, such as Turkey, Russia, Egypt and Kazakhstan, are assigned to one, and some lists put them elsewhere. Antarctica has no countries, so it isn't in the count.
Work out your percentage
Divide the number of countries you've visited by the total you use, then multiply by 100. If you've been to 63 countries and you count against 197, you've covered about 32 percent of the world. Against 193 the same 63 would be about 33 percent. The difference is small, but it's worth knowing which total your number is based on.
Which count should you use?
Pick one and stay with it, so your total stays comparable from year to year. A practical approach is to count against a fixed list of sovereign countries, and keep your territories and islands in a separate "extras" list. That way you can celebrate the Faroe Islands or Bermuda without changing your headline number.
If you're starting from scratch, our guide to mapping every country you've visited shows how to decide what counts as a visit and how to rebuild your list.
