How Many Countries Are There in the World?

My Bucket List

I'm a counter and a list-maker. For years, I have been tracking every single place I've been, every place I want to go and writing lists upon lists of each spot I want to see.

For those of you who don't know, my goal in life is to visit every country in the world and, up until 2019 (which is when the first draft of this list was published from a cafe in Vanuatu), I was going by the 197 country list for my bucket list. I've been adding to my bucket list for years; every time I find a photo of somewhere new or talk to someone who's lived or traveled somewhere I want to go, I add it. And so it's grown.

Turns out, my bucket list has grown far beyond the confines of just 197 countries.

My Task

There are plenty of other lists out there (some of the ones I've referenced include: the Traveler's Century Club - 327, ISO standard - 249, this guy's list - 215, the FIFA country codes list - 211 and the UN recognized list - 195) but none of them really seem to jive with my own list. Some of them have too many places, some not nearly enough.

So, I set myself a task of figuring out what I considered to be a separate and valuable place to visit on its own right in addition to those countries formally recognized by the UN. This list is sure to change over time.

I have visited all countries in bold below. You can click on these links to read posts all about my travels there!

A

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan

B

Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi

C

Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Republic of the
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechia

D

Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic

S

Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria

T

Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu

U

Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom*
United States of America
Uruguay
Uzbekistan

V

Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam

Y

Yemen

Z

Zambia
Zimbabwe

I did not include any dependent territories without a permanent population (New Zealand - Ross Dependency; Norway - Bouvet Island, Peter I Island, Queen Maud Land; United Kingdom - British Antarctic Territory; United States - Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Navassa Island, Wake Island, Bajo Nuevo Bank, Serranilla Bank, Palmyra Atoll; Australia - Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Australian Antarctic Territory, Heard and McDonald Islands; France - Clipperton Island, French Southern and Antarctic Lands).

*The only exception I felt I wished to include is South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which you can visit as part of a cruise along with the Falkland Islands and Antarctica.

**I did not include any dependent territories restricted to military personnel (United Kingdom - British Indian Ocean Territory), however I did include the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus because, while they are UK military bases, they are accessible to tourists. I know this because I have been there.

TOTAL: 200 + 35 = 235

Autonomous Areas

Autonomous areas are territories that have a degree of freedom from its external authority, often geographically separated from its country or populated by a national minority. I have included those that are internationally recognized.

I did not include any internally recognized autonomous regions (those of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, China, Comoros, Fiji, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia**, Somalia, South Korea, Spain, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine and Uzbekistan listed here) nor any capitals or cities that may have been called autonomous by their country (including Argentina, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan listed here).

*Svalbard poses a special case as it is technically under full Norwegian sovereignty and it is not considered a dependency. However, it is classified as having special status, which I think makes it worthy of a spot on my list.

**Serbia recognized Kosovo and Metohija as an autonomous province in 1963, but with Kosovo having permanent observer status on the UN, that one's already on my list above.

TOTAL: 235 + 27 = 262

De Facto States

De facto states have limited international recognition after declaring independence and seeking diplomatic autonomy. Thus, they have de facto control of their territory.

It should be noted that while none of these states are recognized by the UN, many of them host informal diplomatic missions, and/or maintain special delegations or other informal missions abroad. If they can operate this way internationally, I warrant them worthy of spots on the list. Also it should be noted that many of these places require separate border crossings and customs to be cleared; that deems them quite separate to me - and let it be known that crossing the UN buffer zone from Cyprus into Northern Cyprus was quite the experience.

TOTAL: 262 + 10 = 272

The Poles

Finally, I believe that both the poles are both completely within their own right to be visited as separate places and thus also have a spot on my list.

Antarctica (with claims from Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and UK)
Arctic (with claims from Norway, Denmark, Canada, USA and Russia)

TOTAL: 272 + 2 = 274

So, How Many Countries Are There in the World?

Well, technically 197.

But in terms of 'places' I want to travel to that I deem to be separately worth visiting, my total comes up at 274. This is not as many as the biggest list I've seen (the Traveler's Century Club) but I'm always willing to expand. I encourage comments, suggestions and insights into my list. For now, I'm off to pack my bags and keep traveling!

My current total (all the places in bold above): 38 / 274

Please note that I respect and understand that not all the places on my list are actual separate countries. This is simply the list I've come up with of individual places I wish to travel to and I fully believe that visiting somewhere like New Caledonia does not mean you have seen France and vice versa.

My Bucket List

My Task

The United Nations Member Countries

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

Y

Z

TOTAL: 193

The United Kingdom

TOTAL: 193 - 1 for UK + 4 = 196

The United Nations Permanent Observers

TOTAL: 196 + 2 = 198

Other United Nations Recognized Countries

TOTAL: 198 + 2 = 200

Dependent Areas