How Many Countries Are There in the World? Why 196 and 193 Are Both Right
OBARA Hiroki · DeveloperStudyX Globe AtlasHow-To
How many countries are there in the world? It sounds like a question with one answer, and a child who asks it usually expects one. Look it up, though, and you will find at least three: 193, 195 and 196.
The United Nations has 193 Member States. The most recent to join was South Sudan, on 14 July 2011 (United Nations, Member States).
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs counts 196 countries: the 195 that Japan recognises, plus Japan itself (MOFA, in Japanese). Japan’s Statistics Bureau gives the same figure as of 1 January 2026 (Statistics Bureau of Japan, in Japanese).
Many English-language sources say 195. Worldometer, for example, takes the 193 UN members and adds the two UN observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine (Worldometer).
All three numbers are correct. They count different things. This post explains why they differ, and what a “country” is in the first place, in a way you can pass on to a child.
Why 196 and 193 differ
193 is the number of countries in the UN. 196 is the number of countries Japan recognises, plus Japan. The two lists overlap almost completely, but not quite.
According to Japan’s foreign ministry, four countries Japan recognises are not UN members: the Vatican, Kosovo, the Cook Islands and Niue. And one UN member is not recognised by Japan: North Korea.
The arithmetic works out exactly. Take 196, subtract the four non-members, and you get 192. Add North Korea, which is in the UN but not recognised by Japan, and you get 193.
I think showing a child this subtraction and addition is the clearest explanation there is. The question “which number is right?” turns into a better one: “who is counting?”
And 195
The 195 figure starts from the UN too. The UN describes the Holy See and the State of Palestine as “Non-member States having received a standing invitation to participate as Observers” (United Nations, Non-member States). Add them to the 193 and you have 195.
Japan’s 196 and this 195 are close, but they are not the same list. Japan’s includes Kosovo, the Cook Islands and Niue, and leaves out North Korea and Palestine.
Places that are counted differently
Some places that appear in the news are countries on one list and not on another.
Taiwan is in neither the UN’s 193 nor Japan’s 196. It has its own government and a large population, but the UN does not seat it and Japan does not recognise it as a state.
Palestine is a UN observer state, not a member. It is not in Japan’s 196 as of January 2026, and it is in the 195.
Kosovo is recognised by Japan and is in its 196, but it is not a UN member, so it is not in the 193.
North Korea is a UN member and in the 193, but it is not recognised by Japan, so it is not in Japan’s 196.
Each country decides for itself which others it recognises. That is why the count depends on who is doing the counting. There is no single correct way to count.
What is a country?
The definition most often quoted comes from the Montevideo Convention of 1933. Its first article lists four qualifications for a state in international law: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states (Montevideo Convention, Wikisource). Its third article adds that a state’s political existence is independent of recognition by other states.
In practice, though, recognition matters a great deal. Countries that recognise each other exchange embassies and sign treaties. Without recognition, that becomes hard. Some places seem to meet all four conditions and are still not recognised by most countries.
For a child, I would put it something like this. A country has people who live there, land, and a government that runs it. To deal with other countries, it also needs them to say “yes, you are a country”. Different countries say yes to different places, so the total comes out a little differently depending on who you ask.
Counting on a globe gives yet another number
Try counting countries on a map or a globe and new gaps appear.
Very small countries are one. The Vatican is on Japan’s list, but it is so small that small-scale world maps and globes often do not draw it at all.
Territories are another. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but on many maps it is a large island in its own colour. Antarctica belongs to no country.
Sport counts differently again. In football, England and Scotland play as separate teams. The “countries” you see at a World Cup are not the same list as any of the numbers above.
If a child says “I counted the globe and it wasn’t 196”, I think that is a good discovery. It leads straight to the question of what is being counted.
Checking it on StudyX Globe Atlas
StudyX Globe Atlas is a free globe that runs in the browser, which I make. There is nothing to install, no account and no ads. Spin it with a finger or a mouse, and tap a country to see its flag and name.
The country shapes come from Natural Earth’s 1:110 million scale boundary data. That data holds 177 shapes, including Antarctica (which the app does not treat as a country), Greenland, Taiwan, Kosovo, Palestine and Western Sahara. Very small countries such as the Vatican and Singapore are not in it at this scale. That is why counting shapes on the globe will not give you 196.
In the flag and name window, the “i” button opens a details panel. Next to the capital, population and other facts, it has two rows called Independent and UN member. Tapping Kosovo and Taiwan and comparing those two rows is a good way to check what this post describes. Note that this data is loaded live from an outside source, REST Countries, and does not follow Japan’s foreign ministry. If the panel and this post disagree somewhere, that too is a difference in who is counting. The details panel needs an internet connection.
The flag list, opened with the flag button, shows 175 countries grouped by region. There is also an Explore Game, in which you see a flag and find its country on the globe.
To get started, see Getting Started with StudyX Globe Atlas. For ideas for playing together, see Simple Ways to Enjoy StudyX Globe Atlas Together.
So how many countries are there? 193, 195 or 196, each with its own way of counting. In my view, knowing why the numbers differ is more useful than any one of them, especially when you read the news.