There are 14 countries in Oceania today, according to United Nations official statistics. The full list is shown in the table below, with current population totals.

• The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand which are members of several UN specialized agencies and have been recognized “full treaty-making capacity”, but are neither member states nor non-member observer states.
• Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas) or Areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous territories)

The smallest continent in the world, called Australia and Oceania, is surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans. It includes the entire Australian mainland, such big islands as New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea (only its eastern half), and many thousands of tiny, tropical islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia regions, scattered throughout the South Pacific.

There are 14 independent countries and 12 dependent overseas territories. The largest sovereign state is Australia, occupying about 86% of the region’s total area. The smallest independent country is Nauru, which is so tiny that you need less than an hour to drive around it.

The most visited tourist destinations in this part of the world are the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the famous beach resorts of the Gold Coast. The best natural attraction is the Great Barrier Reef, and popular island holiday destinations are Fiji and Bora Bora.

Dependencies or other territories

There are 48 countries in Asia today, according to the United Nations. The full list is shown in the table below, with current population and subregion

Being the biggest continent in the world, Asia includes 50 independent countries and occupies the eastern part of the single Eurasian landmass. Surrounded by the Arctic Ocean from the north, by the Pacific Ocean from the east and by the Indian Ocean from the south, it is separated from Africa by Suez Canal. The Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea separate Asia from Europe, farther the overland border runs through the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains. This boundary crosses through the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, so these states are in both continents.

Armenia and Cyprus geographically are in Asia, but politically and culturally they also are considered as a part of Europe.

The largest of the Asian countries by area is Russia, which occupies about 30% of the total territory of the continent. The smallest one of the independent states is the Maldives. It is an archipelago of islands famous for its beach resorts.

The most visited by tourists country in this region is China as a huge cultural center, followed by no less popular destinations like India, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey.

Dependencies or other territories

There are 54 countries in Africa today, according to the United Nations. The full list is shown in the table below, with current population and subregion (based on the United Nations official statistics).

Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas) or Areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous territories)

Surrounded by water from all directions, Africa is a continent with clearly defined borders. In the north it is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, in the northeast, is separated from Asia by the Suez Canal and farther by the Red Sea. From the east and southeast, it is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, from the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

The total number of independent states in Africa is 54. The transcontinental country in this region is Egypt, also having a small part of its territory in Asia, on the other side of the Suez Canal, but politically it is a member of the African Union.

Among the African countries, the biggest one is Algeria, occupying around 7% of the continent’s territory. And the smallest nation is Seychelles, the worldwide famous luxurious beach holiday destination, occupying 115 islands stretching along the mainland’s eastern coast.

Colorful Morocco is in the first place among the most popular travel spots in this part of the world, the second place belongs to South Africa, followed by Egypt and Tunisia.

The always up-to-date list of countries of Africa in alphabetical order

Today, there are 197 countries in the world:193 UN members + 2 UN observers + Taiwan + Kosovo.

• Taiwan – the United Nations considers it represented by the People’s Republic of China
• The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand which are members of several UN specialized agencies and have been recognized “full treaty-making capacity”, but are neither member states nor non-member observer states.
• Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas, dependencies) and Areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous territories)
• Other countries recognized by the United Nations as not being self-governing

The United Nations, as the most influential international organization, is often considered the start point for the correct counting the total number. All the 193 UN members are independent countries recognized worldwide.

Become a part of the United Nations is not so easy. First of all, the Security Council is voting and the consent of all 5 permanent members of the Council (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) is needed for the adoption of the new candidate. After that, the UN General Assembly approves this decision by no less than the two-thirds of the votes. Such a complicated procedure ensures that all the accepted UN members have been recognized by the vast majority of other states and have established diplomatic relations with them.

Two UN observers, Holy See (Vatican) and Palestine, are both countries because the UN observer status confirms the certain degree of their international recognition. The Holy See maintains bilateral relations with the majority of the world through its 180 diplomatic missions in independent states and international organizations. Palestine nowadays is recognized by 137 countries.

All other self-proclaimed entities are considered as “partially recognized countries”. Some of them either do not control their own territory, like the Western Sahara, or are recognized only by 1-5 UN members and by partially recognized subjects like themselves. For example, the independence of the Northern Cyprus is confirmed only by Turkey; the Republic of Abkhazia has obtained acceptance of 4 members of the UN; the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic statehood is accepted only by three partially recognized states. The list may go on, but there are two exceptions:

• Taiwan is officially recognized by 15 countries (14 UN members and one UN observer). This self-governed territory with a population more of than 23 million people has all signs of statehood and plays the significant role in the region as one of the highly developed economies in Asia Pacific. It participates in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Taiwan has its diplomatic missions (official and unofficial) in more than 100 states and maintains the unofficial bilateral relations with the United States, Canada, UK, European Union, Germany, France, Russia, India, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Nigeria and others.
• Kosovo is officially recognized by 98 UN member countries and by Taiwan. It also has obtained the membership of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Such wide recognition of these two entities could be a basis to include Taiwan and Kosovo in the list of independent states. At the same time, China claims that Taiwan is a part of its internal territory, and Serbia does the same by insisting that Kosovo is its autonomous province.

Nowadays there is no consensus on the issue of the total quantity of countries because still there is no universally agreed definition of “country” and there is no one single competent international body, which could correctly answer the question, “How many are there in the world?”.

All of the above is our own answer, which is based on the real practice of official and unofficial international relations existing today in the world.

Thereby, we can say that the total number of independent states in the world today is 197, including 193 fully recognized members of the United Nations and 2 countries, Vatican City and Palestine, have the status of permanent observers in the UN. The other 2 states we include in the list are Kosovo (recognized by 98 UN members) and Taiwan (recognized by 15 countries).

The always up-date list of world countries in alphabetical order