List of countries

This is an alphabetical list of countries of the world, including both internationally recognized and generally unrecognized independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. It covers all areas under the jurisdiction of the listed countries, namely territory, territorial waters (including internal waters and contiguous zone), Exclusive Economic Zone, continental shelf and airspace. For a list of independent states only, see the list of sovereign states.

The names of countries in the list are given in English and include both an English version of the short official names (e.g. Afghanistan) and an English version of the (longer) official names (e.g. Islamic Republic of Afghanistan).In some cases the government of a country adopts an official country name in English which is different from the name used conventionally in the Anglophone world. In that case the name prefered by the government is used in the list. This concerns Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast, Macao/Macau, Myanmar/Burma, Pridnestrovie/Transnistria and Timor-Leste/East Timor. The listing of any name in this article is not meant to imply an official position in any naming dispute.

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Other listings - References - Footnotes - See also__NOTOC__

:	Included entities - Entities not included

Entities included in this article

On this list are 243 entities considered to be countries. This corresponds to:

202 sovereign states:
- 192 member states of the United Nations (UN).
- 1 state with general international recognition but not UN membership, governed by the Holy See (a UN permanent observer), the Vatican City.
- 9 states lacking general international recognition, none UN members, that customary international law nonetheless defines as states under the Montevideo Convention:
  - 1 state, no longer an UN member since late 1971, recognized by 25 United Nations member states and Vatican City of the Holy See, and currently with de facto international relations with many others, the Republic of China (Taiwan) (commonly referred to as Taiwan).
  - 1 state, recognized by 46 UN member states but never admitted to the UN itself, with most of its claimed territory under military occupation, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara.
  - 1 state, recognized by 92 UN member states (including the 2 permanent UNSC members Russia and China) and the Holy See but never admitted to the UN itself, with only partial de facto control over any of its claimed territory exercised through the Palestinian National Authority (a UN permanent observer), the State of Palestine in the Palestinian territories.
  - 6 de facto independent states lacking any significant measure of diplomatic recognition from other states:
    - 1 de facto independent state, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states except Turkey, Northern Cyprus.De facto independent state inside Cyprus, recognized by no UN member states except Turkey. Though without universal diplomatic recognition, it was accepted as an observer state of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the name of Turkish Cypriot State since 1979. In addition, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic regards TRNC as sovereign but Azerbaijan (the sovereign state that Nakhichevan belongs to) has not followed suit. See The World Factbook - Cyprus (10 January, 2006). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved January 17, 2006.
    - 5 de facto independent states, namely Abkhazia,Abkhazia is a de facto independent state inside Georgia, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states. See Regions and territories: Abkhazia (14 December 2005). BBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2006. Nagorno-Karabakh,Nagorno-Karabakh is a de facto independent state inside Azerbaijan, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states. See Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh (17 January 2006). BBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2006. Pridnestrovie,Pridnestrovie is a de facto independent state inside Moldova, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states, commonly known and referred to by the international community as Transnistria. See Regions and territories: Trans-Dniester (13 December 2005). BBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2006. Somaliland,Somaliland is a de facto independent state inside Somalia, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states. See Regions and territories: Somaliland (30 December 2005). BBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2006. and South Ossetia,South Ossetia is a de facto independent state inside Georgia, diplomatically recognized by no UN member states. See Regions and territories: South Ossetia (14 December 2005). BBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2006. none recognized by any UN member states.
36 inhabited dependent territories:
- 3 external territories of Australia (Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island).
- 2 overseas countries in the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland and Faroe Islands).
- 5 (overseas) communities of France:The overseas regions/overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion are integral part of France, and therefore not listed.
  - 1 sui generis (unique) community (New Caledonia).
  - 4 overseas communities (Mayotte, French Polynesia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna).
- 2 overseas countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba and Netherlands Antilles).
- 3 dependent territories of New Zealand:
  - 2 states in free association with New Zealand (Cook Islands and Niue).
  - 1 overseas territory (Tokelau).
- 16 dependent territories of the United Kingdom:
  - 3 Crown dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man).
  - 13 overseas territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena (and its dependencies Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha), Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia).
- 5 unincorporated territories of the United States:
  - 2 commonwealths (Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico).
  - 2 organized insular territories (Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands).
  - 1 de facto organized insular territory lacking an Organic Act (American Samoa).
5 areas of special sovereignty:
- 4 special entities recognized by international treaty or agreement (Åland in Finland, Svalbard in Norway, as well as the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau in the People's Republic of China).
- 1 UN protectorate inside the de jure territory of a sovereign state (Kosovo in Serbia under UN interim civilian administration).

In the Annex, an outline is given on the entities not included in this list.