Well, the answer is that technically speaking there are countries in the world. From a travel perspective, you could argue there are countries. My attempts at visiting every country in the world was a thousand times tougher than I ever expected. Before I could contemplate finishing the goal, I had to sit back and answer my own question.
Bear with me. Generally speaking, I was right. There are around countries in the world. So I had to delve a little deeper. And the answer to how many countries in the world was found somewhere from the United Nations list recognised countries and the FIFA football list members.
But how can you put an official number on it? First of all, we need to think about what makes a country a country. Does it have to have a flag, a government, its own currency, a passport? Furthermore, its status needs the international diplomatic recognition of sovereignty from at least some other sovereign countries.
So you need to manage all your own affairs AND have other countries understand and recognise that you are indeed a country. Initially, being a huge football fan, I wanted to ask FIFA how many countries are there in the world. But, alas, politics still plays a part. Despite all using the same British pound, same British passport, having the same British queen and all using the same British Government albeit slightly differently.
So, scratch that. Onto the next one. The United Nations. The United Nations list is probably the best to work off. So they say they have members. So that means there are countries in the world, right? Not quite. Both of which I see as countries.
