updated Sept 7, 2020
NOTE: This blog was originally published on July 24, 2015.
If a “country” is defined as a United Nations Member State with voting privileges, there are 193. There are two more “Observer States” in the UN, without voting privileges: the Holy See and Palestine – which would put the number at 195. And then there’s Taiwan – which is not recognized as a separate country by the UN or the US, because of China’s claims to the island. (Politics always complicates things…)
The list I’m using to keep track has 228 “countries” including Antarctica. And what constitutes a “visit”? When I published this blog five years ago, I’d visited 66 countries. Since then, I’ve added 8 more – bringing my count up to 74.
I’m now including Switzerland – though I have certainly NOT done justice to this gorgeous country. A more thorough exploration, planned for this summer, was a victim of COVID. Switzerland is still on my list … along with LOTS of other places. It’s been six months without international travel – with nothing on the horizon. It’s wearing on me.
Doing the math, I’m only at 32%. I’ve got a LONG way to go … I’m SO ready to get back out there! Anybody with me?
What exactly is a “country” anyway?
People always ask me, “How many countries have I visited?” I’ve kept a spreadsheet for a couple of years to keep track of the ever-expanding list. Before publishing this article, I decided to cross-check my list against an “official” list of countries. But that has proved complicated.
When I googled, “how many countries are there?” Wikipedia popped up with: “Compiling a list such as this can be a difficult and controversial process, as there is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations concerning the criteria for statehood” (in the United Nations).
Well, I suppose that shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s common knowledge that China (as in The People’s Republic of …) doesn’t recognize Taiwan, but did you know that 21 nations, plus the Holy See, don’t recognize China?
[Anybody know why they call the Vatican the “Holy See”?]
As I continued scrolling through the “Cs”, I discovered there’s a country called Comoros. Never heard of it! It’s one of the smallest countries in the world, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, near Mozambique. Another unfamiliar one is Moldova, a tiny country tucked between Romania and the Ukraine.
Some of the spats:
My total country count: 66, after adding Myanmar and Belgium this year (2015).
I really, really loved Myanmar!
I really, really loved Bruges, Belgium, too – especially late at night or early in the morning when it was practically devoid of tourists!
And then there’s the question: what constitutes a legitimate “visit”? I was in Baghdad once – at the airport – for an extended layover on my way back from India in 1979. I don’t count it (tempting as it is, since it’s rather unlikely I’ll ever go to Iraq …) – but I know other people would.
I’m also not counting Switzerland on my list. I was in Lugano, just over the Italian border, on a morning tour – on a Sunday, when everything was closed. Obviously, I’ve technically been to Switzerland, but it feels like cheating if I claim it as a country. Lugano didn’t have any blonde girls with braids and dirndl skirts, or cows on an alpine mountainside or even a single yodeler. I didn’t even eat any cheese (nothing was open!). So I can’t possibly count Switzerland. (Can I?)
I was in Leningrad for a few days in the dead of winter many years ago before the fall of the Wall. I’ve never been back, so that trip barely scratched the surface, but I do count Russia on my list. (And I recall taking notes of my site inspection visits on Soviet toilet paper, among other treasured memories!)
I’ve counted Montenegro, where I visited the port of Kotor on an Adriatic cruise. In addition to exploring this charming town for a few hours, I was up on deck for several hours as Captain Rajko piloted the Tere Moana through some of the most beautiful waterscape I’ve ever experienced – the Bay of Kotor.
The breathtaking Bay of Kotor, Montenegro – off the Adriatic coast.
Next year, I hope to add Uganda. If I ever do a Baltic cruise, I could tick off six more in a week’s time: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. There’s a large swath of central America I’ve never experienced: Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Some people collect destinations, like other people collect stamps or spoons. A woman I know signs her emails with her name and “World traveler, has traveled to 251 countries.” She’s a member of a group called the Traveler’s Century Club, which uses a different system of counting countries. As of January 1, 2014, the TCC list offers their fee-paying members a tantalizing 324 countries and territories to claim on their travel resume. They explain, “Although some are not actually countries in their own right, they have been included because they are removed from the parent country, either geographically, politically or ethnologically. After consideration as to how long one must have stayed in a country or territory to qualify, it was decided that even the shortest visit would suffice — even if only a port-of-call, or a plane fuel stop. This greatly widens the field and will give the traveler a better chance to qualify for one of the most unusual clubs in the world.”
By their criteria, Alaska and Hawaii are separate “countries.” By their criteria, I’d definitely claim more than 100.
I’m not sure I agree with this system. I prefer quality over quantity, although I sure would like to claim I’ve been to Iraq!
What do you think … should I count Switzerland?
And what about you? How many countries on your list?
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