Un how many countries in the world

They're usually considered to be highly self-governing overseas territories of New Zealand. But wait, there's more!

Those six partially recognized countries aren't the only breakaway states with full self-governance. There are at least three more self-declared countries that aren't recognized by any UN members at all, but still operate independently from the countries that claim them. These are often called "de facto" sovereign states, a fancy Latin way of saying they're independent countries in actual fact, even if not on paper.

The three places most often considered de facto independent countries are Nagorno-Karabakh , Transnistria , and Somaliland. And since there have been three more contenders for the list, questionable because they're located in active war zones and have only limited government structures: The so-called "Islamic State" is almost out of the running now that it's lost most of its territory in Syria and Iraq, but the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic , which claim independence from Ukraine, don't seem to be going anywhere.

Tiny " micronations " declared by individual people usually aren't taken seriously enough to put on the list. The closest contender would be Sealand , but it's debatable whether this tiny "nation" really counts as having a territory, population, or government, all key ingredients for a sovereign state. There are also many rebel-held territories and fully self-governing areas like Puntland state in Somalia that aren't controlled by any country, but are left off the list because they don't claim to be independent.

They agree in principle that they're part of another country, even though they might disagree about who should be in charge, or how the country should be governed. Lots of people learn about the world's list of countries by watching the Olympic Games every two years. If you're one of them, you might be confused at why the Olympic Parade of Nations claims over members, even though your atlas only has This is because the Olympics didn't always require applicants to be independent countries.

Dependent territories with partial self-government have sometimes been approved by the International Olympic Committee IOC , and a couple of the partially-recognized states mentioned above have also managed it.

Some nearly-independent "countries" like the Cook Islands associated with New Zealand and Aruba a "constituent country" of the Netherlands are included too. As for the two partially-recognized countries in the games, Kosovo became an Olympic Nation in , and Taiwan has been a member for some time, but has to call itself "Chinese Taipei" after a deal struck with China in the s.

Soccer — or "football" as it's known in many countries — is the world's most popular sport, and most international matches all the way up to the World Cup are regulated by an organization called FIFA. If you're a soccer super-fan, you might know that, until recently, there were member countries that compete in FIFA matches even though most don't make it to the World Cup.

That's already more than the number of Olympic Nations, and definitely more than the total independent countries on most world maps. Like the Olympics, FIFA didn't always require independence or international recognition for its members.

North Korea. Sri Lanka. Burkina Faso. South Sudan. Dominican Republic. Czech Republic Czechia. United Arab Emirates. Papua New Guinea. Sierra Leone. El Salvador. By comparison, Britannica's list of countries grants full nation-hood rights to Vatican City , Taiwan, and Kosovo for a total of countries. Then there's Wikipedia's list of sovereign states, which mirrors the U. Perhaps the most puzzling non-country is Greenland , a massive island between the north Atlantic and Arctic oceans, which certainly looks like it ought to be its own country—just like its tiny neighbor, Iceland.

However, Greenland is not a U. Other sources use a less rigid definition of country and give dependent and disputed territories such as Greenland and the Gaza Strip their own separate listings. Dozens of territories and colonies are sometimes erroneously called countries but don't count because they're governed by other countries. The components of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland, Scotland , Wales, and England are not fully independent countries, either, though they do enjoy a degree of autonomy.

When dependent territories are included, the United Nations recognizes a total of countries and territories. If you use the U. State Department's list of recognized nations and also include Taiwan, there are countries in the world. The same number is reached if you count the UN voting members, its two permanent observers, and Taiwan.

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