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The standard known as ISO 3166-1 decides to include sovereign states, inhabited, dependent territories and sometimes constituent countries of sovereign states on the list of countries. Other criteria to be on the list include the existence of inhabited territory. For example, the United Kingdom is treated as a single entity, whereas many countries that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands are treated as independent entities.
In addition to that, ISO 3166-1 does not include a few states on this list because those states have limited recognition. In addition, each country’s population is compared to the world population, which the United Nations estimates to be 7.95 billion today. This comparison is also presented in percentage form.
Smallest Country in the World
A microstate is a phrase that is often used to refer to the smallest countries in the world, even though it is not an official term. The Vatican and Monaco are examples of modern-day city-states and are the two smallest countries in the world. Or, to put it another way, the Vatican is a city-state located within a larger city. The Holy See does not belong to any particular nation, yet it is located in the city of Rome and receives its authority from that location. Because it is of such a minute proportion, rounding it down to the closest half yields an impossible value.
The island states that may be found in both the Caribbean Sea and the South Pacific are some of the smallest countries in the world (Oceania).
The Vatican City, which is an enclave within the city of Rome in Italy, is one of the world’s three smallest countries. Monaco’s principality is located on the coast of the Mediterranean. It is also an enclave within France’s Southern region and the island republic of Nauru, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
The Largest Country in the World
Only Russia, the United States of America, China, Brazil, and India appear in the top ten rankings. It is noteworthy that all of these countries feature extensive stretches of mountainous or desert terrain devoid of inhabitants. Because of this, the majority of the population is concentrated in huge conurbations with an extremely high population density.
India and China are two countries with populations of more than 1 billion, and they are by far the most populated countries. They collectively make up around 36 % of the world’s total population and occupy about 9 % of the surface area of the globe that is habitable. It is reasonable to anticipate that the people of India will keep expanding in the years to come and that by the year 2025, it will have surpassed that of China.
On the other hand, Russia is more than nine thousand kilometres long and boasts the title of being the largest country in the world in terms of land mass. Its total land area of 17,098,250 km2 is only slightly larger (11%) than the combined land areas of China and India. On the other hand, the proportion of the global population is merely two %. Deserts and places of permanent snow cover make up a significant portion of Russia’s landmass. Although only 23% of the continent resides west of the Urals (the mountain range that marks the boundary between Europe and Asia), 85% of the population calls this region home. Only 27 % of the population resides in rural areas.
List of Countries in the World
Today, 195 countries exist across the globe. This figure includes all 193 states that are members of the United Nations and the Holy See and Palestine, who are both observer states but are not members of the UN.
Countries Not Included in the List
Taiwan:
The United Nations recognises the People’s Republic of China as having exclusive representation of the island.
The Cook Islands and Niue:
Both of which are states in free association with New Zealand. Both of these states are members of several UN specialised agencies. They have been recognised as having “full treaty-making capacity,” even though they are neither member states nor non-member observer states.
Dependencies (or dependent territories, dependent areas, dependencies) and areas of Special Sovereignty (autonomous regions) and other nations that the United Nations recognises as not capable of exercising self-government are not listed here.
Conclusion
The geographical boundaries of the world are always moving. Because Earth is a living planet, it is always going through both internal and external transitions. According to what we know, water covers 71 % of the surface of the Earth, while land accounts for 29 % of the total surface area. There are 198 countries in the world, and together they contain over two-thirds of the crust of the Earth. This data from the largest country in the world was compiled using data collected through the end of 2019. The laws that govern each nation-state are what determine its geographical boundaries.
