The complete roll-call. Every UN member state plus the two observer states, grouped by region and tagged by which of the six births it came from. Two famous partially-recognised cases — Kosovo and Taiwan — are listed too, clearly marked as outside the standard count of 195.
The inventor of the nation-state — and the continent whose map was twice shattered, after 1918 and again after 1991.
Declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
A Pyrenean co-principality independent since 1278 — one of Europe's oldest continuous states.
An ancient nation, the first to adopt Christianity; regained independence when the USSR dissolved in 1991.
The core of the Habsburg realm, left as a small republic when Austria-Hungary collapsed in 1918.
A Caucasus republic that became independent as the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991.
A Soviet republic that gained independence in 1991.
Seceded from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in a 1830 revolution.
Emerged from the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992.
Won autonomy from the Ottomans in 1878 and full independence in 1908.
Declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, sparking war.
Independent from Britain in 1960; the island has been divided since 1974.
The Czech Republic split peacefully from Slovakia in the 1993 'Velvet Divorce.'
One of Europe's oldest continuous monarchies, with roots over a thousand years deep.
Independent in 1918, re-independent from the USSR in 1991.
Broke away from Russia in 1917 amid the Russian Revolution.
An old continuous kingdom remade by the 1789 Revolution into the prototype nation-state.
An ancient Caucasus nation that regained independence from the USSR in 1991.
Unified from dozens of states in 1871, split after WWII, and reunified in 1990.
Won independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830 after a long revolt.
An old kingdom that became fully independent as Austria-Hungary dissolved in 1918.
Gained full independence from Denmark in 1944.
Won independence from the United Kingdom in 1922 after a war of independence.
Unified from many kingdoms and city-states in 1861.
Independent in 1918, re-independent from the USSR in 1991.
A tiny Alpine principality, sovereign since 1806.
Once a vast medieval grand duchy; the first Soviet republic to declare independence, in 1990.
A grand duchy that became fully independent over the course of the 19th century.
Independent from Britain in 1964.
A Soviet republic that became independent in 1991.
A Mediterranean city-state ruled by the Grimaldi family since the 13th century.
Restored its independence by seceding from a union with Serbia in 2006.
Born from a long revolt against Spanish rule in the 16th–17th centuries.
Independent from Yugoslavia in 1991; renamed from 'Macedonia' in 2019.
Peacefully dissolved its union with Sweden in 1905.
An old kingdom erased from the map for over a century, then reconstituted in 1918.
One of Europe's oldest nation-states, with borders largely fixed since the 13th century.
Formed by the union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859.
Heir to centuries of tsarist and Soviet rule; the Russian Federation emerged as the USSR's successor in 1991.
Claims to be the world's oldest surviving republic, traditionally founded in 301 CE.
The core of former Yugoslavia, left as a standalone state after Montenegro departed in 2006.
Split peacefully from the Czech Republic in 1993.
The first republic to leave Yugoslavia, in 1991.
Unified from the crowns of Castile and Aragon in the late 15th century.
One of Europe's oldest continuous monarchies.
A confederation of cantons whose founding alliance is traditionally dated to 1291.
A Soviet republic that became independent in 1991.
Formed by the union of England and Scotland in 1707, later joined with Ireland; an old continuous state.
The world's smallest state and seat of the Catholic Church, its present form set in 1929. A UN observer, not a member.
Declared independence from Serbia in 2008; recognised by about half the world's states but not a UN member.
Mostly carved from the collapsing Ottoman Empire after the First World War — plus a few of the world's most ancient civilizational cores.
Won independence from France in 1962 after a brutal eight-year war.
Independent from Britain in 1971.
One of the world's oldest civilizations; a modern state fully free of British control by the mid-20th century.
An ancient Persian civilization, its modern shape recast by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Assembled from Ottoman provinces under British mandate; independent in 1932.
Founded in 1948 as the British mandate of Palestine ended; its creation and the resulting Palestinian question remain deeply contested.
Carved from the British mandate; independent in 1946.
Independent from Britain in 1961.
Independent from French mandate in 1943.
A former Italian colony that became independent in 1951.
An old sultanate that regained full independence from France and Spain in 1956.
A long-independent sultanate that once ran a maritime empire of its own.
Independent from Britain in 1971.
Unified by Ibn Saud through decades of conquest and declared a kingdom in 1932.
Independent from French mandate in 1946.
Independent from France in 1956.
Rose from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire as a republic in 1923 under Atatürk.
Seven emirates federated into one state on independence from Britain in 1971.
North and South Yemen merged into a single state in 1990.
A UN observer state recognised by most of the world; full sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza remains unrealised and contested.
Sliced up by Europe at the 1884–85 Berlin Conference, then liberated in a great wave of decolonisation peaking in 1960 — the borders, almost all inherited wholesale.
Independent from Portugal in 1975, then plunged into civil war.
Independent from France in 1960 (then named Dahomey).
Independent from Britain in 1966.
Independent from France in 1960 (then named Upper Volta).
Independent from Belgium in 1962.
Independent from Portugal in 1975.
Independent from French and British rule in 1960–61.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from France in 1975.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Belgium in 1960; turbulent almost from the start.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from France in 1977, among the last in Africa.
Independent from Spain in 1968.
Seceded from Ethiopia in 1993 after a thirty-year war.
Independent from Britain in 1968 (formerly Swaziland).
Never colonised apart from a brief Italian occupation; one of the world's oldest continuous states.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1965.
The first sub-Saharan colony to win independence, from Britain in 1957.
Independent from France in 1958 — the one colony that voted an immediate 'No' to staying.
Independent from Portugal in 1974.
Independent from Britain in 1963, after the Mau Mau uprising.
Independent from Britain in 1966; a mountainous enclave within South Africa.
Founded in 1847 by freed American slaves; never formally colonised.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1964.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1968.
Independent from Portugal in 1975.
The last African colony to win independence, from South African control, in 1990.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1960; Africa's most populous nation.
Independent from Belgium in 1962.
Independent from Portugal in 1975.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1976.
Independent from Britain in 1961; grew from a settlement for freed slaves.
Formed in 1960 by uniting the former British and Italian Somali territories.
A British dominion from 1910; its modern democracy was born with the end of apartheid in 1994.
The world's newest country, seceding from Sudan in 2011.
Independent from joint British–Egyptian rule in 1956.
Formed in 1964 by the union of Tanganyika and the islands of Zanzibar.
Independent from France in 1960.
Independent from Britain in 1962.
Independent from Britain in 1964.
Independent from Britain in 1980, after a long liberation war.
One subcontinent split by Partition in 1947, ringed by Himalayan kingdoms that stayed free — and, to the north, five Central Asian states freed by the fall of the USSR.
Long a buffer between empires; fully free of British influence over its affairs from 1919.
Seceded from Pakistan in 1971 after a war of liberation.
A Himalayan kingdom that has preserved its independence for centuries.
Heir to one of the world's oldest civilizations; independent from Britain in 1947. (See this library's 20-chapter India special.)
The largest Central Asian state; independent as the USSR dissolved in 1991.
Independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Independent from Britain in 1965.
Never colonised; unified into a Himalayan kingdom in the 18th century.
Created in 1947 by the partition of British India as a homeland for Muslims.
Independent from Britain in 1948 (as Ceylon).
Independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Independent from the USSR in 1991; the heart of the old Silk Road.
The world's deepest continuities — China, Japan, Korea — beside a Southeast Asia almost entirely shaped by decolonisation.
A wealthy oil sultanate, independent from Britain in 1984.
An ancient kingdom and heir to Angkor, independent from France in 1953.
One of the world's oldest continuous civilizations; the empire became a republic in 1912 and the People's Republic in 1949.
Declared independence from the Dutch in 1945; the world's largest archipelagic state.
An ancient state, never colonised, with an imperial line traced back over a thousand years.
Independent from France in 1953.
Independent from Britain in 1957, federated into Malaysia in 1963.
Heir to the empire of Genghis Khan; independent of China since the early 20th century.
Independent from Britain in 1948 (formerly Burma).
Created in 1948 when the Korean Peninsula was split along Cold War lines.
Independent from the United States in 1946, after centuries of Spanish rule.
Briefly part of Malaysia, it became an independent city-state by separation in 1965.
Created in 1948 from the southern half of a divided Korea.
The only Southeast Asian country never colonised by a European power.
One of the 21st century's first new nations, independent in 2002 after Indonesian occupation.
Won independence from France by 1954 and reunified after the Vietnam War in 1975.
Governs itself as the Republic of China with its own government and military, but is not a UN member and is recognised by only a handful of states.
An entire hemisphere built on conquest, then liberated in waves of revolution — 1776 in the north, the 1810s–20s across Latin America, and the Caribbean much later.
Independent from Britain in 1981.
Independence from Spain declared in 1816.
Independent from Britain in 1973.
Independent from Britain in 1966; became a republic in 2021.
Independent from Britain in 1981.
Independent from Spain in 1825; named for Simón Bolívar.
Declared independence from Portugal in 1822, uniquely becoming an empire of its own.
A self-governing British dominion from 1867 that gained full sovereignty gradually through the 20th century.
Independence from Spain declared in 1818.
Independent from Spain in 1819 under Bolívar.
Independent from Spain in 1821.
Independent from Spain in 1902; remade by the revolution of 1959.
Independent from Britain in 1978.
Independent from Spain, then from neighbouring Haiti in 1844.
Independent from Spain in 1822; later left the union of Gran Colombia.
Independent from Spain in 1821.
Independent from Britain in 1974.
Independent from Spain in 1821.
Independent from Britain in 1966; the only English-speaking country in South America.
The first Black republic, founded in 1804 by a successful revolt of the enslaved against France.
Independent from Spain in 1821.
Independent from Britain in 1962.
Won independence from Spain in 1821 after a long war.
Independent from Spain in 1821.
Seceded from Colombia in 1903, with US backing, to enable the canal.
Independent from Spain in 1811.
The heart of Spain's American empire; independent by 1824.
Independent from Britain in 1983; the Americas' smallest sovereign state.
Independent from Britain in 1979.
Independent from Britain in 1979.
Independent from the Netherlands in 1975.
Independent from Britain in 1962.
Declared independence from Britain in 1776 — the first European colony in the Americas to do so.
Won independence in 1828 as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil.
Independent from Spain in 1811; Bolívar's homeland.
Two old British settler dominions and a scatter of Pacific island nations — many among the last places on Earth to gain independence, and now on the front line of rising seas.
A federation of British colonies from 1901 that became fully sovereign across the 20th century.
Independent from Britain in 1970.
Independent from Britain in 1979.
Self-governing in free association with the United States from 1986.
In free association with the United States from 1986.
Independent in 1968; one of the world's smallest republics.
A British dominion that gained full sovereignty gradually through the 20th century.
The last territory to leave the US-administered Pacific Trust, independent in 1994.
Independent from Australian administration in 1975.
The first Pacific nation to gain independence, from New Zealand, in 1962.
Independent from Britain in 1978.
A Polynesian kingdom never formally colonised, fully sovereign from 1970.
Independent from Britain in 1978.
Independent in 1980 from joint British–French rule.
A note on the count: there is no single official list of the world’s countries. This index uses the standard figure of 195 — the 193 UN member states plus the Holy See and the State of Palestine, which hold permanent observer status. Independence dates given are the conventional reference years; the fuller stories, with sources, live in the regional chapters of Part 1 and the linked encyclopedias.
One country in this index carries a story too deep for a single line. India gets its own twenty-chapter special: ten chapters on how the subcontinent was physically built, from a drifting raft of rock to the cities of Harappa — and ten on the literature that held its culture together through every conquest and reinvention since.
Begin the India special →