How Many Countries Are in the World? Quiz
What counts as a country
There is no single official list of the world's countries, so the answer depends on who is counting. The most common yardstick is membership of the United Nations, which today has 193 member states.
Two more states take part in the UN as non-member observers, among them the Holy See, which governs Vatican City. Add them and you get 195, the number you see most often in atlases and school books. A few other places govern themselves but are recognized by only some countries, which is why lists can disagree.
The newest UN member is South Sudan. It became independent in 2011 and joined the UN the same year. Before it, Montenegro joined in 2006 and Timor-Leste in 2002.
Countries by continent
Africa has the most countries: 54 of the 193 UN members. Asia and Europe come next, with more than 40 each, though the exact count depends on where you put countries that span two continents, such as Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
South America has 12 countries. Brazil, by far the largest, borders every one of them except Chile and Ecuador. North America, counting Central America and the Caribbean, has 23, and Oceania has 14.
Antarctica has no countries at all. Seven countries claim parts of it, but under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 those claims are set aside and the continent is kept for peace and science. Its only residents are the staff of research stations: a few thousand in summer, far fewer in winter.
Tiny countries and island nations
The smallest country in the world is Vatican City, at less than half a square kilometer, but it is a UN observer rather than a member. The smallest UN member is Monaco, on the Mediterranean coast: about 2 square kilometers, smaller than New York's Central Park.
Three countries lie entirely inside a single other country: Lesotho, surrounded by South Africa, and San Marino and Vatican City, both surrounded by Italy. Liechtenstein, between Switzerland and Austria, is doubly landlocked: none of its neighbors has a coast either. The only other doubly landlocked country is Uzbekistan, in Central Asia.
At the other extreme are countries made of islands. Indonesia has more than 17,000 of them, spread over more than 5,000 kilometers from east to west, and the Philippines has more than 7,000.