How many countries are there?

The United Nations has 193 member states, but the answer to "how many countries" depends on who you ask.

193, 195 or more

The most common answer is 193, the number of member states of the United Nations. Two more, the Holy See (Vatican City) and the State of Palestine, are non-member observer states, which gives 195. A few places govern themselves but are recognised by only some countries, such as Taiwan and Kosovo. Maps and quizzes therefore have to pick a rule, and this course follows UN membership for its quizzes.

A new country joins the United Nations when the Security Council recommends it and two thirds of the General Assembly vote yes. The newest member is South Sudan, which became independent from Sudan in 2011 and was admitted the same year as the 193rd member. Because the Security Council has to agree first, a place that one of the permanent members opposes can be shut out for decades, even if many other countries already treat it as a state.

The globe also shows places that are not independent countries. Greenland belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, and New Caledonia is part of France. Western Sahara is disputed. You can click these areas to see their names, but the quizzes skip them.

Continents

Geographers do not all divide the land the same way either. In many English-speaking countries students learn seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia (or Oceania). Elsewhere the Americas are often one continent, or Europe and Asia are joined as Eurasia. Asia is the largest by both area and population, and Antarctica has no permanent population at all.

This course puts each country in one continent, using the Natural Earth grouping. Countries that cross a boundary go where most of their people live or where their capital is, so Russia is in Europe and Türkiye and Cyprus are in Asia. If your school atlas puts them somewhere else, it is not wrong; it simply uses a different rule.

What makes a city the capital

A capital is the city where a country’s government sits, usually named in the constitution or in law. It is often the largest city, as with London, Paris, Tokyo and Seoul, but in many countries it is not. Some capitals were built new as a compromise between rival cities, such as Canberra, Ottawa and Washington. Others were placed near the middle of the country to draw people inland, such as Brasília and Abuja. A few countries split the job among two or three cities.

Capitals also change. Kazakhstan moved its capital in 1997, Myanmar in 2005 and Nigeria in 1991, and city names change too. When a quiz answer surprises you, check the date of the map you learned from. The continent units that follow tell the story behind each surprising capital, and list the small countries that are too tiny to click on this globe, such as Singapore, Monaco, Malta and most Pacific island states.

Capitals are easier to remember in small groups than as one list of 193. Learn one region at a time, say the country and capital aloud, and come back to the ones you missed a day later and then a few days after that. Mistakes you see again after a gap stick better than answers you repeat ten times in a row. The globe below helps too, because a capital tied to a place on the map is easier to recall than a word on its own.

Practice on the globe