Quizzes & Puzzles2 mins ago
Countries, how many?
It seems that the world is growing and growing these days. Anybody know how many countries there are in the world today? On my old atlas I still have the USSR as one country, Eastern Europa countries have grown in number too.
There was debate about the number on this web site in 2003 and the numbers offered were 191, 192, 193 and 272.
Anything changed since then?
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.The figure of 193 includes the Vatican and Switzerland and treats the countries of the UK as one.
Another way to reach a conclusion is to consider the earth's various hemispheres. These are North/South and East/West. Re North/South, the equator cuts through 12 countries, so they may be considered both northern and southern. There are 148 countries solely in the northern hemisphere and 33 solely in the southern. Re East/West, the 0 degrees and 180 degrees lines cut 9 countries - including Britain - so they may be considered both eastern and western. There are 135 countries solely in the eastern hemisphere and 49 solely in the western hemisphere.) A bit of simple arithmetic now shows that a. 12 + 148 + 33 = 193 and b. 9 + 135 + 49 = 193, which is the total number of countries in the world.