Countries of the World - Encyclopedia Britannica Although there isn’t universal agreement on the question of what qualifies as a “country,” it is generally accepted that in order to be a country, a state must be a sovereign unit that has a permanent population, defined territorial boundaries, a government, and the ability to enter into agreements with other states
List of sovereign states - Wikipedia The following is a list providing an overview of sovereign states around the world with information on their status and recognition of their sovereignty
Lists of sovereign states and dependent territories - Wikipedia This is a list of lists of countries and territories by various criteria A country or territory is a geographical area, either in the sense of nation (a cultural entity) or state (a political entity) [1] Demographics Population List of countries and dependencies by population
List of Countries and Dependent Territories of the World - World Maps This is a list of sovereign states, dependent territories and other states of the world alphabetically (266 countries and territories in total) The list also includes capitals of states and territories, population of countries, areas of countries, currencies and locations continents 1 ^ "World Population Prospects"
list of countries - Encyclopedia Britannica They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors This is an alphabetically ordered list of the countries of the world and all but the smallest political dependencies and territories (See also geography and government ) This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray
Countryaah. com – All Countries in the World and Their Capitals How many countries are there in the world? As of 2025, the United Nations (UN) recognizes 195 independent countries, including its 193 members and two permanent observer states (Vatican and Palestine) In recent history, the number of states has quadrupled
List of countries of the world in alphabetical order The list below has more (partially disputed) countries, a total of 257 countries with links to pages with facts about the country, the flag, maps, population, languages, birth rate, information about the land, size, death rate, animals, coordinates, other facts and additional information