How many countries are there?
How many countries are there? The age old question inside the community trying to “Visit Every Country” and one of the first questions you have to ask yourself before embarking on such an adventure. Sure just Google it you might say? Yes google is great, for settling the majority of arguments but even it cant agree how many countries there are and no matter where you look you probably wont get the same answer. From politics, religion to sport everyone has their own figure and I’ve heard everything from 190 to over 1000!
When the time came for me to come up with a number I was never going to be content in totalling the smallest number of countries just to be able to complete my objective a few years earlier. So read on and see how I came up with the number.
THE LISTS
You’ll find tons of lists on the internet but the most common ones are;
- THE UN – 195
- SELF DECLARED – 204
- OLYMPICS – 206
- FIFA – 211
- DISPUTED NATIONS – 9
THE UN – 195

There are two sets of criteria to be considered to become a UN Nation.
- All states must be fully independent with recognised borders and government etc.
- A vote will be carried out by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
There are 193 full members of the UN but unfortunately politics as always plays a part. Countries such as Palestine, Hong Kong or Taiwan to name a few are not included and depending where you are from you might feel they merit recognition, I sure do.
SELF-DECLARED/DE FACTO – 205

This list is pretty much the UN list and the Disputed nations added together. They maybe self-governed, have de-facto control and declared independence but might not have worldwide recognition as being independent.
THE OLYMPICS – 206

Prior to 1996 the rules were a lot more relaxed for non-UN member states to enter, similar to the criteria set out by FIFA. Since then the criteria has changed and although any non UN states participating before 1996 can still enter, any new members are required to be an independent state. The National Olympic committee is made up of 206 nations
FIFA – 211

The list of FIFA members is now at 211. This includes most of the UN countries less Monaco and a few south pacific islands. Countries don’t need to be completely independent to qualify for FIFA recognition. Overseas and self-governing territories such as Faroe Islands (DK) and British Virgin islands (UK) are good examples of this.
DISPUTED NATIONS

This list can become quite contentious but for the sake of this post and our time lets restrict it. Disputed territories are;
Nations who wish to be identified as independent countries, but are not recognized as such worldwide. The nations enjoyed de facto control over their land and wished for complete independence or were recognized by at least one other country. More often than not these nations are involved in a dispute with one or more other countries. The disputed nations are;
- Western Sahara
- Somalialand
- Taiwan / Chinese Taipei
- Kosovo
- Rep of South Ossetia
- Rep of Abkhazia
- Turkish Rep of Northern Cyprus
- Transnistria
- Artsakh
OTHER LISTS
TCC – 327

The Travellers Century Club is a non-profit organisation which was formed in 1954 and is currently only open to people who have visited 100 countries or more. With a list of 327, TCC understands not all countries on the list are fully independent but have set out the following criteria,
Nations can be included if they are self governed or geographically or politically removed from their parent country. Examples of this would be French Guyana, a French territory in South America.
NOMAD MANIA – 1281

Is 327 not enough, then let me introduce Nomad Mania to you. Not one to be out done Nomad Mania splits up each country into regions, counties or states coming up with the crazy total of 1281. Obviously there are only a handful of travellers who have completed the list, all credit to them, but I don’t intend to be one of them.
WHAT DO OTHER TRAVELLERS SAY?
Right or wrong, everyone has their own list of countries and their own criteria for what they consider to count as a visit but one things for sure is that some are super competitive. I’m here to travel and make new friends along the way and so are most. Although there are some who prefer to swing their proverbial “travel dick” around which is always amusing.
WHAT IS MY LIST
How many countries should I put on my list? This was the hardest thing for me to agree on and I have changed it 3 or 4 times before committing (I was always told I had commitment issues).
I believe you get one chance at compiling the list, it’s no use creating the list and then deciding to visit more countries after you’ve completed it. In essence you are just admitting your list was inaccurate? Visiting that list of 195 and telling myself well done, when in fact I know I would be thinking about those other self-governed or de facto countries I didn’t visit or those disputed nations I decided against travelling to or for that matter Greenland, the blaringly obvious elephant on the map just sitting there asking me, did you really visit them all? I don’t want to be doubting myself and living a lie at the end when I should be celebrating, so lets do it right.
THE 229
I didn’t want to pick and choose countries at my leisure and make an entirely new list without a bit of logic. To prevent this I’ve decided to make the bold move and combine the 5 lists (plus the special mentions below). So if a country is on any of the lists then it goes on mine and that’s where I got to 229. It would be a lot easier for me to stick to the UN list and save myself a bit of money and a few years of travel but I have to make sure I was leaving nothing to chance.
UN – 195 (Inc 2 observer states)
SELF DECLARED/DE FACTO – 204
OLYMPICS – 206
FIFA – 211
DISPUTED NATIONS – 9
SPECIAL MENTIONS
GREENLAND
There isn’t much logic for adding Greenland to the list other than it just being a huge island on the map that I cant avoid!
KURDISTAN
Or northern Iraq rather. With its own government and visa its fair to say it’s a separate entity to Iraq. I can fly into Erbil and get a visa on arrival for Kurdistan but if I was wanting to visit Iraq proper I’d have to jump through a million hoops before I could get close.
TIBET
Tibet is seen by many as an independent country. In 1949 It was invaded by China who imposed an agreement, although as this was signed under duress the agreement was void under international law. It is considered that Tibet is independent but has been colonized by China.
TOTAL – 229
So as you can see it’s not quite as simple as you (or I) imagined and its quite understandable why everyone comes up with a different number.