--- title: "How many countries are there in the world? 195 — or 193, or 20" description: "195 — or 193, or 206, or 249, depending on who is counting How the figure is estimated, how confident it is, and what makes the scale graspable." url: https://atoneplace.net/how-many/countries/ site: "At One Place" --- # How many countries are there in the world? **How many countries are there in the world?: 195 — or 193, or 206, or 249, depending on who is counting** FIFA has 16 more members than the United Nations, which is why the World Cup includes teams from places without a UN seat. The usual answer is 195: the 193 United Nations member states plus two non-member observer states, the Holy See and Palestine. It is a definitional answer, not a factual one. The International Olympic Committee recognises 206 national committees, FIFA has 211 member associations, and the ISO 3166 country-code standard lists 249 entries because it includes dependent territories such as Greenland and Puerto Rico. Kosovo, Taiwan and Western Sahara land differently on each list. ## How the figure is arrived at Nothing is measured; a list is chosen. The practical rule is to name your list first — "195 UN member and observer states" is a defensible sentence, "195 countries" is a claim that quietly picks a side on several territorial disputes. ## How confident it is - **Low estimate:** 193 - **High estimate:** 249 - **Spread:** 1.3× between the bounds ## Other things people built counts - [How many cars are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/cars-in-the-world/) — about 1.5 billion motor vehicles - [How many planes are in the air right now?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/planes-in-the-air-right-now/) — roughly 10,000 to 20,000 at any moment - [How many languages are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/languages/) — about 7,150 living languages - [How many McDonald's are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/mcdonalds-restaurants/) — about 43,000 in over 100 countries - [How many phones are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/phones-in-the-world/) — about 8.9 billion mobile connections — more than there are people - [How many nuclear weapons are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/nuclear-weapons/) — about 12,200 warheads - [How many websites are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/websites/) — about 1.1 billion hostnames — but only around 200 million active - [How many books have ever been published?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/books-ever-published/) — about 130 million as of 2010 — probably over 200 million now - [How many airports are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/airports-in-the-world/) — about 45,000 with runways — but only around 4,000 with scheduled airline service - [How many ATMs are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/atms-in-the-world/) — about 3 million - [How many cities are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/cities/) — about 10,000 with over 50,000 people; 33 megacities over 10 million - [How many buildings are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/buildings-in-the-world/) — somewhere between 1.5 and 4 billion - [How many computers are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/computers-in-the-world/) — roughly 2 billion personal computers in use - [How many miles of road are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/roads-total-length/) — about 64 million km — roughly 40 million miles ## Common questions ### How many countries are there in the world? 195 — or 193, or 206, or 249, depending on who is counting ### How is that estimated? Nothing is measured; a list is chosen. The practical rule is to name your list first — "195 UN member and observer states" is a defensible sentence, "195 countries" is a claim that quietly picks a side on several territorial disputes. ## Related pages - [How many cars are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/cars-in-the-world/) - [How many planes are in the air right now?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/planes-in-the-air-right-now/) - [How many languages are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/languages/) - [How many McDonald's are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/mcdonalds-restaurants/) - [How many phones are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/phones-in-the-world/) - [How many nuclear weapons are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/nuclear-weapons/) - [How many websites are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/websites/) - [How many books have ever been published?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/books-ever-published/) - [How many people are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/) - [How many stars are there in the universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/stars-in-the-universe/) - [How many bones are in the human body?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bones-in-the-human-body/) - [How many grains of sand are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/grains-of-sand-on-earth/) - [How many ants are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/ants-on-earth/) - [How many trees are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/trees-on-earth/) ## Sources - The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]