Countries of the world.

[stoogmeister]

How many countries (officially) are there in the world? I know it's about 200.
Also, what defines a country? For example, why is Britain a country and Scotland isn't?

[Larsson]

Wheras there are 189 member states in the United Nations, my last count seems to indicate eight more (196), but as you say, who decides what a state is? Is Kurdistan? Tibet? St Marino? Officially, who knows, and who can know, when politicians and others can't even agree on what is a country/state/nation and what isn't.

[Mikey]

There are 202 countries in FIFA's list of footballing nations.

[Ginbottle]

Country/nation/republic/dependency. All have a capital city and a flag. What more is needed to define a country? Not even a budget or permanent residents such as Antarctica. Britain is a nation, not a country. Scotland is a country.