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Of these states, 193 of them are member states of the United Nations while two of them (the Holy See and Palestine) are observers at the UN. Presently, there are 206 sovereign states in the world. A good example of a nation is Palestine where there are several people identifying as Palestinians although the state of Palestine has limited recognition.ĭue to the confusion in the sovereignty status of nations in the world, there is no universal agreement as to the exact count of countries in the world.

A nation, on the other hand, does not need to have a physical border since it is more of a group of people with similar cultures, languages, and religions. However, in political discourse, a state can be defined as a political unit with sovereignty (legitimate and total political power) over a region and all the people living in that region. The word “state” and the word “country” can be used interchangeably. The same is true for the Kingdom of Denmark, which is comprised of Mainland Denmark as well as two other states namely Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Depending on the context, a person may choose to call the UK a country or refer to its member states as countries.

Another good example is that of the United Kingdom, which is made up of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. We all know the name of the country we live in, but have you ever taken the time to wonder what exactly it is that makes a country? By definition, a country refers to a territory with its own borders and total sovereignty. In modern times, this meaning has changed such that the word may be used to refer to several regions and territories that often do not fulfill the criteria in the definition.įor example, some small areas in England, such as West Country, the Constable Country, and the Black Country, are described as countries despite their relatively smaller sizes. The world we live in has many divisions, from continents to countries to states/provinces to cities to neighborhoods.