Countries List

There are 195 countries in the world today. This total comprises 193 countries that are member states of the United Nations and 2 countries that are non-member observer states: the Holy See and the State of Palestine.

Not in the list

Not included in this total count of 195 countries are:

• Taiwan – the United Nations considers it represented by the People’s Republic of China
• The Cook Islands and Niue, both states in free association with New Zealand which are members of several UN specialized agencies and have been recognized “full treaty-making capacity”, but are neither member states nor non-member observer states.
• Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas, dependencies) and Areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous territories)
• Other countries recognized by the United Nations as not being self-governing

List of countries and their flags