How many countries are there? in The AnswerBank: People & Places

193 is probably the safest figure to go with as regards the total number of countries in the world. It depends, you see, on whose list you accept. The American Government, for example, does not recognise Taiwan, but most other countries do. The United Nations does not include the Vatican or Switzerland, though the people of the latter country recently voted to join. (I am not sure whether that has now been completed.) Are Scotland, England and Wales three countries or just one as the bulk of the United Kingdom? And so it goes on.
The figure of 193 includes the Vatican and Switzerland and treats the countries of the UK as one.
Another way to reach a conclusion is to consider the earth's various hemispheres. These are North/South and East/West. Re North/South, the equator cuts through 12 countries, so they may be considered both northern and southern. There are 148 countries solely in the northern hemisphere and 33 solely in the southern. Re East/West, the 0 degrees and 180 degrees lines cut 9 countries - including Britain - so they may be considered both eastern and western. There are 135 countries solely in the eastern hemisphere and 49 solely in the western hemisphere.) A bit of simple arithmetic now shows that a. 12 + 148 + 33 = 193 and b. 9 + 135 + 49 = 193, which is the total number of countries in the world.

spinchimp

Good to see you managed to stagger out of bed halfway through the afternoon seal!

seal!

Question Author

Lol spinchimp. Quizmonster, its good to see you, havn't seen any of your posts on here for a wile, did you go away or was i just missing them?

Quizmonster

I've been around pretty much as always, Seal. I get the impression that there are - rationally enough, I suppose - far more members on AB than in earlier times, so answers that I might have provided have frequently been given ere I see the questions. Having said that, I did answer about a dozen yesterday! Cheers

zmudge

Exactly

zmudge

(contd)

Ignore the numbers after some countries in the first post - it is not possible to correct in AnswerBank !

Quizmonster

I assume your responses are just a list provided by someone, Zmudge...the CIA's World Factbook, perhaps? I see, for example, that it includes 'West Bank', which is not a country as far as I am aware. As I said in my opening reply, "it depends on whose list you accept".
I'm certainly not about to count the ones you list...I'll leave that to Seal! Cheers

Grunty

zmudge - in the hope of preventing a diplomatic incident with H.R.H. Prince Leonard, I think we should also mention the Hutt River Province.

For anyone who is not familiar with this important contributor to world statesmanship. full details here. http://www.huttriver.net/

Octavius

QM, Switzerland became a member state of the UN in 2002. If you consider the Holy See (Vatican) to be a country rather than a microstate then it is as you say 192.

A proposed new addition to the list would be the Palestinian State.

Octavius

aarghh, 193, not 192

Quizmonster

Thanks for that, O. I never did hear what happened about their application, though I suppose I could have Googled it. Lazy devil! Cheers

Octavius

or just know everything like me.

zmudge

I am aware of the "geography about" website which gives the number as 193 without listing the countries. That is wrong. Prior to the break up of the FSU the official number (Foreign Office) was 191 and this existed for years. After the break up of the FSU the official number was revised to 197, and this existed for a long time. Seal asks for the exact number, and my list gives the 197 for current revision by the "Brains of AnswerBank" if appropriate.

Quizmonster

After a closer look at your list, Zmudge, I have to say that I query all of the following as being "countries"...Gaza Strip, West Bank, Ireland Northern (part of UK effectively, so already counted), Hong Kong (as Hong Kong and as China Hong Kong) and China Macau.
I'm still unsure where you got your list from, but surely you agree with some, at least, of what I said above. There is, for example, simply no way the West Bank is a country. And, if Northern Ireland is countable as such, what about Scotland, England and Wales, none of which is on your list?
I'd still say, as I did originally here, that "193 is probably the safest number to go with."

Octavius

But only if you include the Vatican as a separate country?

Quizmonster

Which I do, O. If Italy happily accepts the Vatican's independence, I think it would be churlish of me to decline to do the same! Besides, it almost invariably appears on lists as "the world's smallest country".
I'm not about to get involved in a discussion as to what legally constitutes an entity defined as "a country", as a case has been made for something that looks like an oil-rig! Accordingly, I'm leaving the thread right there!

How many countries are there?

Answers