So the first question is – How many countries are there in the world?

To start to understand this question we need to understand “what is a country?”  The English word country is derived from Latin ‘contra’, which means “against” or “on the opposite side.”  In Medieval Latin the noun ‘contrata’ was formed from ‘contra’.  Contrata mean in the literal definition “that which is situated opposite the beholder.”  But, that which is opposite the beholder is just what he or she sees!  So from this contrata meant “landscape.”  It then over time came to mean “expanse of land or region.” 

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So we know where the word came from but, how do we define what a country is?  There are several definitions of what a ‘country’ is and this will also include the term ‘state’.  The term state means, a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.  We now have the term ‘nation’ and ‘territory’.  A nation defined as a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.  Then a ‘territory’ is an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state or an organized division of a country that is not yet admitted to the full rights of a state.

A common and simple definition is a country is independent and autonomous, however – this is not a universally valid definition across the world.  A more complicated definition is a country is a region that is identified as a ‘distinct entity in political geography’, as such a country may be an independent sovereign ‘state’ or part of a larger state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic ‘region’ or ‘territory’ associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics

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So is there a global and regulated definition?  How do we define ‘countries’, ‘states’, ‘territories’ and a ‘region’ and to classify them independently of political or international interests?  Even the United Nations (UN) whom is categorically not a country nor government can define what a country or state is and does not possess the authority to recognise either a ‘state’ or a ‘government’ or to reject a country’s sovereignty, the UN merely reflects the decisions of its members.  However, every recognised UN member state has the right to decide this for itself and also has the power of veto to reject a claim to be recognised.  

At present there are 193 countries that are member states of the UN and therefore recognised universally by the full members of the UN and 2 countries that are non-member observer states: the Holy See and the State of Palestine making 195. There are various arguments about this number too, when is comes to Kosovo, Abkhazia, Taiwan, South Ossetia and Northern Cyprus whose membership has been vetoed by member states of the UN and are not part of the UN General Assembly meetings, so are excluded from the UN country count.  So now we are at 200.

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As you dive deeper into the definition of ‘country’ and which includes the term ‘state’, we need to note what are termed as partially recognised territories and self governing territories.  These are often but not always former colonies which have not yet attained recognised independence, but have a full government under the auspices of the UN.  Additionally, they have made claims to independence, but have not been recognised yet or because they are disputed territories with de facto sovereignty, but without any recognition.  This increases the number up to 209 with the countries listed in the table below. 

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You may also have non-self-governing territories are defined under Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations, these are “territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”.  Also often former colonies they hold claim to independence in varying degrees of intensity and some of them have a high degree of autonomy then others, even having their own currency and flag.  There are 17 listed in the table below, bringing the total to 226.

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To help identify all the ‘countries’, ‘states’, ‘territories’ and a ‘region’ there are a number of documents of reference that one can use.  

A document called FIPS PUB 10-4 which was withdrawn by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on 2 September 2008 now sits with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and as the maintenance authority for FIPS PUB 10-4, they are continuing to maintain and provide regular updates in a document known as Geopolitical Entities and Codes (GEC).

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Additionally, there is the ISO 3166-1 (Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes) published by the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), is a standard for defining codes for the names of ‘countries’, ‘dependent territories’, and ‘special areas of geographical interest’.  

Finally you have the Standardization Agreement (STANAG)1059 established and maintained by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for the purpose of providing a common set of geo-spatial identifiers for countries, territories, and possessions.

Using the references above there are currently 249 countries, territories, or areas of geographical interest assigned with official codes in ISO 3166-1.  Then consolidating the GEC and STANAG 1059 there are 279.