hen you search around on the web you’ll find many different ‘official’ numbers. The United Nations recognizes 193 countries, except Vatican City and Palestine. The International Olympic Committee defines 206 countries. Other authorities claim 212, 219, 247 – and the list goes on. It’s probably easiest to say there are ‘about 200 countries.’
But as a traveler, who loves to see new places, and not just ticking countries off a list, you have to dig a little deeper. Most of the lists above don’t include overseas territories and dependencies. This is a huge deal.
Example: you could fly to London for 3 days, enjoy the sites, do some shopping, ride the London Eye and then check ‘England’ off of your 193 ‘official’ countries. But, what about Scotland, Wales, Guernsey, Jersey and the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman and Falkland, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and Sandwich Islands, Northern Ireland, even Gibraltar?
If you spend a weekend in NYC, you’ve now visited ‘North America’ – but what about Alaska, Puerto Rica, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Wake Island, Guam, and Hawaii?
Wait. There are only 195 countries in the world. Where are you getting 327?
The world is big, very big…
I want to see as MANY places as I can, and get a better feel for each country, visit hard to reach and far-flung ocean territories as well. Thankfully I was introduced to the ‘Travelers Century Club List’ – this is a group that has widespread recognition for keeping an accurate count of “countries and territories that are of significant interest, as distinct destinations to serious travelers”
Now I can see Christmas island, Midway, Reunion and the Balearic Islands (Ibiza), can try to visit Ogasawara, Iwo Jima, and the Canary Islands.
Additionally, travelers count ‘visiting’ a country in different ways. For some people just landing at an airport on a stopover and placing your foot on the tarmac is ‘enough’ to consider a country visited. Others require you get your passport stamped and leave the airport. To me, it’s pretty simple – you need to go out and VISIT the country, mingle with the people, eat some food, sleep in a hotel, have a few drinks, take some photographs and of course – ENJOY the country. For most of my first-time visits, I try to stay at least three nights. Sometimes two nights is too short, and four nights can start to drag if you have a long trip ahead. Three nights is a perfect introduction to a place and usually enough to decide if I want to return for more, later.
So, as of now, there’s 338 countries and territories. It’s my goal to be the first Filipina to visit all of them (or as many as I can) I began my trek in 2017.
Travel isn’t always easy, but life is short there’s a whole world of strangers in strange lands to experience!
Pacific Ocean (39)
- Australia
- Bismarck Archipelago (New Ireland, New Britain, Bougainville, Admiralty Islands)
- Chatham Islands
- Cook Islands (Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Penrhyn)
- Easter Island
- Fiji Islands
- French Polynesia (Tahiti,Tuamotu, Austral, Gambier)
- Galapagos Islands
- Guam
- Hawaiian Islands
- Juan Fernandez Islands (Robinson Crusoe Island)
- Kiribati (Gilberts,Tarawa, Ocean Island)
- Line/Phoenix Islands (Fanning, Christmas, Canton, Enderbury)
- Lord Howe Island
- Marquesas Islands
- Marshall Islands, Republic of (Majuro, Kwajalein, Eniwetok)
- Micronesia, Fed.States of (Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk,Yap,Caroline Islands)
- Midway Island
- Nauru
- New Caledonia & Deps. (Noumea, Loyalty Islands)
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Norfolk Island
- Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian)
- Ogasawara (Bonin, Volcano Island, Iwo Jima)
- Palau, Republic of
- Papua New Guinea
- Pitcairn Island
- Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa)
- Samoa, American (Pago Pago)
- Samoa (Apia)
- Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, New Georgia,Tulagi)
- Tasmania
- Tokelau Islands (Fakaofu, Atafu, Union)
- Tonga (Nukualofa)
- Tuvalu (Ellice Island, Funafuti, Vaitapu)
- Vanuatu (New Hebrides Islands)
- Wake Island
- Wallis & Futuna Islands
North America (6)
- Alaska
- Canada
- Mexico
- Prince Edward Island
- St. Pierre & Miquelon
- United States (Contiguous)
Central America (7)
- Belize (British Honduras)
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Panama
South America (14)
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- French Guiana
- Guyana (British Guiana)
- Nueva Esparta (Margarita Island)
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Suriname (Netherlands Guiana)
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Caribbean (30)
- Anguilla
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Bonaire
- Cayman Islands
- Cuba
- Curacao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada & Deps. (Carriacou, Grenadines)
- Guadeloupe & Deps. (Marie Galante)
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Montserrat
- Puerto Rico
- Saba & Sint Eustatius
- Saint-Barthélemy
- Saint-Martin (France)
- San Andres & Providencia
- Sint Maarten (Netherlands)
- St. Kitts & Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent & the Grenadines
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Turks & Caicos Islands
- Virgin Islands, British (Tortola, etc.)
- Virgin Islands, U.S. (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas)
Atlantic Ocean (14)
- Ascension
- Azores Islands
- Bermuda
- Canary Islands
- Cape Verde Islands
- Falkland Islands
- Faroe Islands
- Fernando de Noronha
- Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
- Iceland
- Madeira
- South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands
- St. Helena
- Tristan da Cunha
Europe + Mediterranean (68)
- Aland Islands (Mariehamn)
- Albania
- Andorra
- Austria
- Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Minorca)
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Corsica
- Crete
- Croatia
- Cyprus, British Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri & Dhekelia
- Cyprus, Republic
- Cyprus, Turkish Fed. State
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Greek Aegean Islands (Cyclades, Dodecanese,
Northern Aegean Islands) - Guernsey & Deps. (Alderney, Herm, Sark, Channel Islands)
- Hungary
- Ionian Islands (Corfu, etc.)
- Ireland (Eire)
- Ireland, Northern (Ulster)
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey (Channel Islands)
- Kaliningrad
- Kosovo
- Lampedusa
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Sardinia
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Sicily
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Spitsbergen (Svalbard, Bear Island)
- Srpska
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Transnistria (Pridnestrovie)
- Turkey in Europe (Istanbul)
- Ukraine
- Vatican City
- Wales
Antarctica (7)
- Argentine Antarctica (Antarctic Peninsula)
- Australian Antarctic Territory (Mawson, Davis, Macquarie, Heard)
- British Antarctic Territory (Graham Land, South Orkney, South Shetland)
- Chilean Antarctic Territory (Antarctic Peninsula)
- French Southern & Antarctic Lands (Adélie Land, Kerguelen, Amsterdam, St. Paul, Crozet, Îles Éparses)
- Norwegian Dependencies (Queen Maud Land, Bouvet)
- New Zealand Antarctica (Ross Dependency)
Africa (55)
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin (Dahomey)
- Botswana (Bechuanaland)
- Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
- Burundi (Urundi)
- Cabinda
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)
- Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)
- Djibouti
- Egypt in Africa
- Equatorial Guinea (Bioko)
- Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni)
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana (Gold Coast, British Togoland)
- Guinea (French Guinea)
- Guinea-Bissau
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- Lesotho (Basutoland)
- Liberia
- Libya
- Malawi (Nyasaland)
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Morocco,Spanish (Ceuta, Melilla)
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome & Principe
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia (Italian Somaliland)
- Somaliland (British)
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania (Tanganyika)
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Western Sahara (Spanish Sahara)
- Zambia (No. Rhodesia)
- Zanzibar
- Zimbabwe (So. Rhodesia)
Middle East (21)
- Abu Dhabi
- Ajman
- Bahrain
- Dubai
- Egypt in Asia (Sinai Peninsula)
- Fujairah
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Palestine
- Qatar
- Ras Al Khaimah
- Saudi Arabia
- Sharjah
- Syria
- Umm Al Qaiwain
- Yemen
Indian Ocean (15)
- Andaman-Nicobar Islands
- British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia)
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Comoros (Anjouan, Moheli, Grand Comoro)
- Lakshadweep
- Madagascar
- Maldives
- Mauritius & Dependencies (Agalega, St. Brandon)
- Mayotte (Dzaoudzi)
- Reunion & Dependencies (Tromelin, Glorioso)
- Rodrigues Island
- Seychelles
- Socotra
- Zil Elwannyen Sesel (Aldabra, Farquhar, Amirante Islands)
Asia (51)
- Abkhazia
- Afghanistan
- Armenia (Yerevan)
- Azerbaijan (Baku)
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China, People’s Republic
- Georgia
- Hainan Island
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia (Java)
- Japan
- Jeju Island (South Korea)
- Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo)
- Kashmir
- Kazakhstan
- Korea, North
- Korea, South
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali,Timor, Indonesia)
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Maluku Islands
- Mongolia, Republic
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Nakhchivan
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Papua (Irian Jaya)
- Philippines
- Russia in Asia (incl. Siberia)
- Sabah (North Borneo)
- Sarawak
- Sikkim
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
- Sulawesi (Celebes, Indonesia)
- Sumatra (Indonesia)
- Taiwan. R.O.C.
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Tibet
- Timor-Leste
- Turkey in Asia (Anatolia, Ankara, Izmir)
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
As someone that comes from a relatively small island country (the Philippines), I’d also like to encourage other Filipinos to travel more, we’re often underrepresented and reticent to even try to travel as there are always so many hoops to jump through to get visas, and even the unknown fear if we will be allowed to leave the airport – even with all our proper documentation!
We live in a great island nation but our passport only allows us to visit 73 countries without a visa (or visa on arrival). Compare that to places like Germany, Japan or the United States (167)!
You can view Global Passport Power Rankings here.
It can take many trips to Manila to set up appointments, bringing mounds of paperwork, photos, bank statements, affidavits, promissory notes of return, mandatory insurance, and then the interviews just to get the opportunity to enjoy your vacation in another country. But, in the end, it’s always worth the effort. You just have to persevere and have patience.