How many countries are there in the world?

The United Nations has 193 member states. Two more, the Holy See and the State of Palestine, take part in the UN as non-member observer states, which is why many lists give 195. Lists built from country codes run longer, because they also give codes to territories and other areas that are not UN members.

193 UN member states
2 UN non-member observer states
249 country and area codes in the Unicode CLDR list that WorldStamped is built on

Why the totals differ

The UN total measures membership of one organisation. Code lists such as Unicode CLDR, which many apps and operating systems use for country names, also cover dependent territories and other areas, so they reach 249 entries.

Every travel app then decides which of those entries count as a country. That is why the same trips can give two different totals in two apps.

How WorldStamped counts

The WorldStamped catalogue has 250 entries. It takes names from Unicode CLDR, regions from UN M49 and classifications from Natural Earth (dataset 2026.08.1).

Groups in the WorldStamped catalogue
Group	Entries	In your country total?
Countries	205	Yes
Territories	41	No, counted separately
Special areas and other travel entries	4	No

The 205 countries include all 193 UN member states and 12 more places with their own country code that WorldStamped lists separately for travel.

Countries by continent

The WorldStamped catalogue groups countries by the UN M49 continents. Each continent links to its map with country names, capitals and a counter for the ones you have visited.

Continent	Countries	UN member states	Territories (counted apart)
Africa	54	54	5
Asia	50	47	0
Europe	48	43	3
Americas	39	35	18
Oceania	14	14	15
Total	205	193	41

Antarctica has no countries, so it has no row.

Count your own countries

Tick the countries you have been to on the visited countries map. It counts them at once and keeps the marks in your browser, without an account.

Open the visited countries map

Questions

Is it 193 or 195 countries?

Both numbers are in use. 193 is the number of UN member states; 195 adds the two non-member observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine.

Why does my total differ between travel apps?

Each app uses its own list. Some count only UN member states, others count every territory with a country code. Check which list an app uses before comparing totals.

Do territories count as countries on WorldStamped?

No. Territories are a separate group and do not raise your country total. You can still mark them on your account map.

Sources

Facts checked against these sources on 30 October 2026. Written with AI assistance; the WorldStamped figures are read from the catalogue that powers the map.