All countries in the world 2026: the complete list of 195 states

Around 15,000 people search “all countries in the world” every month, most of them expecting a single number. The short answer is 195, but that figure hides a real distinction between countries that hold a UN seat and countries that don’t, which is why other sites quote 193, 196, or even 197.

Why the answer is 195 (and why some sources disagree)

The United Nations currently has 193 member states. Alongside them, the UN General Assembly recognizes two non-member observer states: the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine. Add those two observers to the 193 full members and you get 195, the figure most data-journalism and reference sites treat as the standard count of sovereign countries in the world today. For the mechanics of how a state gets a seat, a veto, or observer status, see our explainer on the United Nations.

Sources that report a higher number, 196 or 197, are usually adding Kosovo or Taiwan to the tally. Both function as de facto independent states with their own governments, currencies, and borders, but neither holds a UN seat because of unresolved sovereignty disputes and opposition from permanent Security Council members. A smaller number of counts also fold in Western Sahara or self-governing dependent territories such as the Cook Islands, which pushes the total even further from the UN baseline.

The 193-member roster is not static. The most recent addition is South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in July 2011 and was admitted to the UN that same month, making it the world’s youngest country. Before that, the last new entrant was Montenegro in 2006. Any “complete” list of countries is really a snapshot of where that count stands today.

The full list by continent

Africa

#	Country
1	Algeria
2	Angola
3	Benin
4	Botswana
5	Burkina Faso
6	Burundi
7	Cabo Verde
8	Cameroon
9	Central African Republic
10	Chad
11	Comoros
12	Democratic Republic of the Congo
13	Djibouti
14	Egypt
15	Equatorial Guinea
16	Eritrea
17	Eswatini
18	Ethiopia
19	Gabon
20	Gambia
21	Ghana
22	Guinea
23	Guinea-Bissau
24	Ivory Coast
25	Kenya
26	Lesotho
27	Liberia
28	Libya
29	Madagascar
30	Malawi
31	Mali
32	Mauritania
33	Mauritius
34	Morocco
35	Mozambique
36	Namibia
37	Niger
38	Nigeria
39	Republic of the Congo
40	Rwanda
41	Sao Tome and Principe
42	Senegal
43	Seychelles
44	Sierra Leone
45	Somalia
46	South Africa
47	South Sudan
48	Sudan
49	Tanzania
50	Togo
51	Tunisia
52	Uganda
53	Zambia
54	Zimbabwe

Asia

#	Country
1	Afghanistan
2	Armenia
3	Azerbaijan
4	Bahrain
5	Bangladesh
6	Bhutan
7	Brunei
8	Cambodia
9	China
10	Cyprus
11	Georgia
12	India
13	Indonesia
14	Iran
15	Iraq
16	Israel
17	Japan
18	Jordan
19	Kazakhstan
20	Kuwait
21	Kyrgyzstan
22	Laos
23	Lebanon
24	Malaysia
25	Maldives
26	Mongolia
27	Myanmar
28	Nepal
29	North Korea
30	Oman
31	Pakistan
32	Palestine (UN observer state)
33	Philippines
34	Qatar
35	Saudi Arabia
36	Singapore
37	South Korea
38	Sri Lanka
39	Syria
40	Tajikistan
41	Thailand
42	Timor-Leste
43	Turkey
44	Turkmenistan
45	United Arab Emirates
46	Uzbekistan
47	Vietnam
48	Yemen

Europe

#	Country
1	Albania
2	Andorra
3	Austria
4	Belarus
5	Belgium
6	Bosnia and Herzegovina
7	Bulgaria
8	Croatia
9	Czechia
10	Denmark
11	Estonia
12	Finland
13	France
14	Germany
15	Greece
16	Hungary
17	Iceland
18	Ireland
19	Italy
20	Latvia
21	Liechtenstein
22	Lithuania
23	Luxembourg
24	Malta
25	Moldova
26	Monaco
27	Montenegro
28	Netherlands
29	North Macedonia
30	Norway
31	Poland
32	Portugal
33	Romania
34	Russia
35	San Marino
36	Serbia
37	Slovakia
38	Slovenia
39	Spain
40	Sweden
41	Switzerland
42	Ukraine
43	United Kingdom
44	Vatican City (UN observer state)

Latin America and the Caribbean

#	Country
1	Antigua and Barbuda
2	Argentina
3	Bahamas
4	Barbados
5	Belize
6	Bolivia
7	Brazil
8	Chile
9	Colombia
10	Costa Rica
11	Cuba
12	Dominica
13	Dominican Republic
14	Ecuador
15	El Salvador
16	Grenada
17	Guatemala
18	Guyana
19	Haiti
20	Honduras
21	Jamaica
22	Mexico
23	Nicaragua
24	Panama
25	Paraguay
26	Peru
27	Saint Kitts and Nevis
28	Saint Lucia
29	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
30	Suriname
31	Trinidad and Tobago
32	Uruguay
33	Venezuela

Oceania

#	Country
1	Australia
2	Fiji
3	Kiribati
4	Marshall Islands
5	Micronesia
6	Nauru
7	New Zealand
8	Palau
9	Papua New Guinea
10	Samoa
11	Solomon Islands
12	Tonga
13	Tuvalu
14	Vanuatu

Northern America

#	Country
1	Canada
2	United States

The borderline cases

A handful of territories sit outside this list for reasons that are worth knowing, because they explain most of the discrepancies you’ll see between sources. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by roughly half of UN member states, but it has never been admitted to the UN itself, largely because Russia and China would block it in the Security Council. Taiwan governs itself, runs its own elections, and issues its own passports, yet lost its UN seat to the People’s Republic of China in 1971 and is formally recognized by only a small number of countries. Western Sahara is claimed by both Morocco, which administers most of it, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is recognized by the African Union but not the UN; the territory remains on the UN’s list of non-self-governing territories awaiting a resolution. The Cook Islands and Niue occupy a different category altogether: both are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand, control their own domestic affairs and increasingly their own foreign relations, but have not sought full UN membership.

None of these cases change the headline number. For a page built around “how many countries,” 195 remains the defensible, sourceable answer, with a clear footnote for readers who want the edge cases spelled out.

Where to go next

If you only need one region broken out, the Europe countries list and the EU countries list split the continent’s 44 states from the 27 that actually sit inside the European Union, a distinction that trips up a lot of readers since the two lists overlap but aren’t identical.

For a different cut of the same 195 countries, grouped by economic development rather than geography, see the developing countries list, which uses UN and World Bank classifications to separate developed, developing, and least-developed economies.

Regional groupings cut the same 195 countries differently: see which countries APAC covers and the EEA countries list.