How many countries are there???

Corrections or clarifications: None so far. Please tell me if you find a mistake.

Welcome to my first video! In this video, I answer how many countries there are to the best of my ability. I expect that this video will get very few views if any, so I really appreciate if you like and subscribe. Most importantly though, comment! You can tell me what you thought of the video, how to improve my style, ideas for the future, or anything really (just make sure to be respectful).

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:15 UN countries
03:07 Unrecognized Countries
09:41 Constituent Countries
10:32 Associated Territories
11:19 Dependent Territories
13:57 Interpretations
16:16 Stretches
18:18 The Future
19:25 Conclusion

If you want to research the subject on your own, then here are some links that I think are very helpful:

[Kuvina]

2023 UPDATE

The 2023 Azerbaijani offensive into Artsakh has ended in a ceasefire where all Artsakh institutionns will be dissolved by next year. Artsakh will effectively cease to exist, and the population is fleeing to Armenia to avoid human rights violations.

In terms of how many countries there are, you would need to remove 1 from unrecognized countries, and my answer becomes 205.

[adamdburton]

Your channel is an absolute gem. I love your presenting style, graphics and explanations! Keep it up!

[GodmanchesterGoblin]

A really good breakdown of how different territories are recognised. Thanks also for covering Taiwan and also some of quirks of the UK such as the Isle of Man.

[singranasbonfireofdreams]

i found your video about the math behind the colour space, my only advice is dont change, dont try to emulate other youtubers / "become more professional" or anything like that, keep doing topics and your channel will eventually become very big, as you do have quality. if you are eventually to try to make money (thinking ahead to 100k+ subscribers) then i suggest having ONE mention of a product at some point in the video, but only promote products that you yourself think are good value propositions (by doing this you can build a career as a "seal of approval" / reveiwer letting you monetize the views on your videos without paying a large cost to your viewership growth)

[half-faust]

Nice, I like that you actually go over so many different options. The idea of a country seems simple at first but it's actually so complicated...

[GelidGanef]

You have incredible quality for a new channel, keep up the good work!
I'd love a video about the pan-american highway, about china's belt and road initiative, or some of the independence movements around the world.

[turtak]

I think everyone can agree that all your videos so far are amazing .Maybe a video about civil wars or empires?

[Mingura]

The interpretation I follow: it is a country if 1) has territory and at least 11 people to form a national team and/or 2) has enough economic power to print "made in" label on their products.

[phobosdiscord]

Hitting it out of the ballpark on the first video, I think I'm going to binge all of your content soon

[OrkhonMapping]

You may also add a category with the name of "significant exclaves and island territories far from the country proper". This category contains Alaska, Hawaii, Kaliningrad, Nakhcivan, Cabinda, Canaries, Azores, Andaman-Nicobar Islands....

[chair]

The interpretation i follow is the un member and observer states plus Taiwan and Kosovo

[cool_neptune]

197 countries 193 un members 2 observers, Kosovo and Taiwan.

[temboyandougala]

Military conflicts that led to millions of death illustrated with cute colorful geometrical forms

[Nickitoks]

I wish that you did more geography videos... =)

[LotsOfS]

I consider all two letter ISO 3116 or whatever the number is as a country, including unassigned codes. So that makes 26*26=676 countries

[johnnyc]

I would say

246 (247 - Artsakh)

+ Sealand
+Sovereign Military Order of Malta
+ Catalonia
+ Bougainville
+ Tibet
+ East Turkestan
+ Kurdistan

=253

[joaocabralpv]

Why aren't the Azores and Madeira included in the Dependent Territories list?

[cherylchui]

18:44 Update on Bougainville, they are becoming independent in 2027.

[nuts]

Why has there been so much fighting over stuff like this throughout history

[JCCyC]

I'm seriously surprised there aren't more hissy fits being thrown here over the (correct) use of the word "illegal" at 2:50.