Status of the World's Nations

OVERVIEW
NATIONS, DEPENDENCIES, AREAS OF SPECIAL SOVEREIGNTY

Listing of Nations, Dependencies, and Areas of Special Sovereignty

Editor's note: This section was adapted from Geographic Notes, issued by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. State Department in April 1992 and updated by the editors of this volume in March 2008.

OVERVIEW

In this survey, the term “nation” refers to a people politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite, internationally recognized territory. The number of such nations has almost tripled since the end of World War II. On the eve of the war there were 70 nations; as of March 2008, there were 194.

In 1990 and 1991 several important changes took place in the status of the world's nations. Two nations, Yemen and Germany, were formed in 1990, each by unification of two formerly separate nations. In the case of Germany, the former German Democratic Republic was subsumed by the Federal Republic of Germany. The Republic of Yemen was formed by union of the former Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. Also in 1990, Namibia finally realized its Independence; the UN had terminated its status as a South African mandate in 1966.

The year 1990 also began a period of turmoil in the former Soviet Union. The independence of the three Baltic States—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—was recognized by the central Soviet government in August 1991. The United States established diplomatic relations with the democratically elected governments of the Baltic States in September 1991. In December 1991 the 12 former Soviet republics became separate sovereign nations.

With the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence along with its neighbor Serbia and Montenegro in 1992. In 1993 Czechoslovakia dissolved into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Also in 1993, Eritrea declared its independence from Ethiopia. In 2002, East Timor declared itself a nation after separating from Indonesia. Montenegro separated from Serbia to become an independent nation on June 3, 2006. On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia.

The magnitude of these changes, though noteworthy, is not unprecedented in recent history. The unsettled international situations following each of the World Wars fostered the creation of new nations without an equal dissolution of existing ones. As a result of World War I, three nations in Europe ceased to exist—Austria, Hungary, Montenegro, and Serbia—but they were replaced by four new nations: Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Poland reappeared on the map of Europe after an interval of almost a century and a quarter during which it had been partitioned among Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia.

In the early part of World War II, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were forcibly incorporated into the USSR. Other nations disappeared temporarily from the world community during the period that led up to World War II. These include Ethiopia in 1936, Austria in 1938, and Czechoslovakia in 1939. In the aftermath of World War II, however, two new nations emerged through the partition of Germany and Israel was created within the United Kingdom’ Palestine League of Nations Mandate.

Proliferation of Nations

The dramatic increase in the number of nations since World War II has occurred primarily through the breakup of larger territorial entities, particularly in Africa, along the southern periphery of Asia, in the Caribbean, and in the Pacific Ocean. The dissolution of the Soviet Union follows this proliferation pattern.

Several periods since 1945 were marked particularly by the emergence of new nations from colonial powers. In 1960 alone, 14 new nations appeared from French-controlled parts of Africa. Of the 69 nations formed worldwide between 1961 and 1992, 42 had been wholly or partly under British sovereignty at some time in their history, including seven of the 11 new Pacific island nations. Between September 1974 and November 1975, all five of Portugal's overseas provinces in Africa became nations.

Several exceptional situations since World War II have caused irregularities in the sovereignty structure. Syria in 1958 joined Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, a union that endured three years. In 1962 the West Indies Federation, just a few months before its scheduled independence, was dissolved in favor of sovereignty for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In another instance in which nations unsuccessfully attempted to merge, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar considered the creation of an East African federation with a single national government. These plans failed to materialize, but in April 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to become one nation, Tanzania.

Geographical Attributes

The largest nation by size of territory is Russia, followed, in order by Canada, China, the United States, Brazil, and Australia, all with more than 5 million square kilometers of total area. The largest nation by population is China, followed, in order by India, the United States, and Indonesia, all with more than 190 million people. The Holy See (Vatican City) is the world's smallest nation, in both land area and population.

Of the 194 nations, 39 are islands that border no other country, 44 are landlocked, and the remaining 111 face one or more oceans or their embayments. As nations delimit their 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) under the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including negotiating maritime boundaries with neighboring nations, some may face the possibility of being “zonelocked.”

Dependent Areas

Government control over land areas varies widely, from full sovereignty to none. The term “dependent areas” encompasses a broad category of political entities that fall in some way within the jurisdiction of a nation. In this survey, dependent areas are “overseas” territories associated with a nation; they do not include offshore islands that belong to or make up civil divisions of a nation. Australia, Denmark, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States maintain dependent areas. The level of political dependence ranges from self-governing in domestic affairs to administered directly from the national capital. The latter case often includes minor scattered islands with little or no permanent population.

Except for a sector of Antarctica, there are no significant land areas that are not either under the control of a nation or claimed by one. Antarctic claims have been made by seven of the 28 consultative nations to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty,* although the legal status of those claims remains in suspension under the provisions of the treaty. The unclaimed sector of Antarctica is between 90 and 150 degrees west longitude.

The United States has asserted no claim of sovereignty in Antarctica, although it reserves the right to make one; it recognizes none of the claims within the Antarctic Treaty area (south of 60 degrees south latitude) made by other nations.

* Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom are the seven signatories of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty which have claims in Antarctica. The remaining consultative nations are Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United States, and Uruguay.

NATIONS, DEPENDENCIES, AREAS OF SPECIAL SOVEREIGNTY

The following information is provided as reference material only. The data do not necessarily correspond to official statistics published by the various states. Status of the World's Nations should not be considered legally definitive.

Diplomatic Relations

The United States has established diplomatic relations with 189 of the listed nations. These are designated by an asterisk (*).

Name of Nation

The short-form name of the nation is commonly used; the long form is used for official documents and formal occasions. In a few instances no short form exists; the long form must serve for all usages. Conversely, a long form may not exist or may seldom be used.

Sovereignty

The sovereignty of dependencies and areas of special sovereignty is identified; where required, a note clarifies an entity's political status.

Capitals

For each state the conventionally accepted capital city name, recommended for use on maps, is listed. In the several instances where states have more than one capital, information on each is given. Some dependencies have no capital city and may be administered from another dependency of the same nation. In the case of small multi-island insular states or dependencies, the island on which the capital is located is given, unless it has the same name.

UN Membership

UN membership is indicated by a (+).

* Diplomatic relations with the United States;

+ Member of United Nations

Notes

Note 1: In this listing, the term “independent state” refers to a people politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory recognized as independent by the US.

Note 2: Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 codes.

Note 3: With the establishment of diplomatic relations with China on January 1, 1979, the US Government recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of China.

Note 4: “Congo” is the official short-form name for both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To distinguish one from the other, the U.S. Department of State adds the capital in parentheses. This practice is unofficial and provisional.

Note 5: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950. The U.S., like nearly all other countries maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.

Note 6: Claimed by both the Government of the People's Republic of China and the authorities on Taiwan. Administered by the authorities on Taiwan (see note 3)

Source: Office of The Geographer and Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.

Notes

Note 1: Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 codes.

Note 2: Antarctica consists of the territory south of 60 degrees south latitude. This area includes claims by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the legal status of which remains in suspense under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. The United States recognizes no claims to Antarctica.

Note 3: Chagos Archipelago (including Diego Garcia).

Note 4: U.K.Overseas Territory (also claimed by Argentina).

Note 5: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion are departments (first-order administrative units) of France, and are therefore not dependencies or areas of special sovereignty. They are included in this list only for the convenience of the user. The Department of Guadeloupe includes the nearby islands of Marie-Galante, La Desirade, and Iles des Saintes, as well as Saint Bar-thelemy and the northern three-fifths of Saint Martin (the rest of which belongs to Netherlands Antilles). The islands of Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island are administered from Reunion; all these islands are claimed by Madagas-car, and Tromelin Island is claimed by Mauritius.

Note 6: “French Southern and Antarctic Lands” includes Ile Amsterdam, lle Saint-Paul, Iies Crozet, and Iles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean, along with the French-claimed sector of Antarctica, “Terre Adelie.” The United States does not recognize the French claim to “Terre Adelie” (see note 2).

Note 7: The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and nearby smaller islands.

Note 8: Under a Sino-British declaration of September 1984, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control on July 1, 1997. It is now a semi-autonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 9: Administered from Oslo, Norway, through a governor resident in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

Note 10: Under the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau signed in 1987, Macau reverted to Chinese control on December 20, 1999. It is now a semiautonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 11: Netherlands Antilles comprises two groupings of islands: Curacao and Bonaire are located off the coast of Venezuela; Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (the Dutch two-fifths of the island of Saint Martin) lie 800 km to the north.

Note 12: South China Sea islands occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam.

Note 13: The territory of Saint Helena includes the Island group of Tristan da Cunha; Saint Helena also administers Ascension Island.

Note 14: South China Sea islands claimed in entirety by China and Vietnam and in part by the Philippines and Malaysia; each of these states occupies some part of the islands.

Note 15: U.K. military bases on the island of Cyprus.

Note 16: The joint force headquarters under the Commander of the British forces, Cyprus administers both sovereign base areas from Episkopi.

Note 17: The island of Saint Martin is divided: the northern three-fifths form the French collectivity of Saint-Martin, while the southern two-fifths (Sint Maarten) are part of the Netherlands Antilles.

Source: Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.