Copyright © by Toucan Valley Publications, Inc.
| Source Citation
COUNTRIES OF
THE WORLD DATABASE |
Number
of Cards |
193 |
Card Description |
One
card for each country |
COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD
An Introduction
Countries of the World Fact Cards covers all 193 independent countries of the world. The
aim is to provide quick facts and up-to-date information in as parallel a manner
as possible, thus facilitating comparative studies. Countries of the World Fact Cards also offers an overview of the history
and culture of each country.
The
definition of "independent country" is "a people politically
organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory." The list of
recognized independent countries differs somewhat depending upon what agency
is compiling it. The U.S. State Department lists 192 independent
countries. The United States does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country, supporting China’s claim that Taiwan is a province of China. It also does not recognize Yugoslavia, considering that the former Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia has dissolved. Serbia and Montenegro, former Yugoslav republics, have declared themselves
to be the "new" Yugoslavia. While the U.S. accepts the federation of Serbia and Montenegro as an independent country, it does not accept that they
are the successor to the former Yugoslavian government, and so uses the name
"Serbia and Montenegro" rather than "Yugoslavia" for them.
We
have elected to use the list of independent countries offered in the World Book Encyclopedia, feeling that this
best represents the common world view of countries. We have also elected to use the form of country
name used by World Book Encyclopedia
(e.g., Ivory Coast instead of Cote d’Ivoire, Vatican City instead of Holy
See, Yugoslavia instead of Serbia and Montenegro, Burma instead of Myanmar).
Vatican City is included as an independent country, but since parallel
statistics are not available, it is not included in the rankings for area, population,
and gross domestic product. These rankings
are based on a count of 192 countries.
Cyprus is regarded as a single independent country, though
Turkey claims that the northern part is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and recognizes it as independent from the Greek Cyprus.
The Western Sahara, formerly part of Morocco and still claimed by that country, has declared itself
to be the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.
It is so recognized by about 70 other countries, but not by the United States nor by World Book
Encyclopedia.
Statistics
in various countries around the world are gathered in varying ways. The currency
and accuracy of statistics available from a country may depend in part on the
stability of the government.