Country

Not to be confused with County. For countryside, see Rural area. For other uses, see Country (disambiguation).

The marked territories on this global map are mostly of countries which are sovereign states with full international recognition (brackets denote the country of a marked territory that is not a sovereign state). Some territories are countries in their own right but are not recognized as such (e.g. Taiwan), and some few marked territories are disputed about which country they belong to (e.g. Kashmir) or if they are countries in their own right (e.g. Western Sahara (territory) or the state known by the same name).

A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, states with limited recognition, constituent country, or a dependent territory.[1][2][3][4] Most sovereign states, but not all countries, are members of the United Nations.[5] There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world since several states have disputed sovereignty status, limited recognition and a number of non-sovereign entities are commonly considered countries.[6][5]

The definition and usage of the word "country" are flexible and have changed over time. The Economist wrote in 2010 that "any attempt to find a clear definition of a country soon runs into a thicket of exceptions and anomalies."[7]

Areas much smaller than a political entity may be referred to as a "country", such as the West Country in England, "big sky country" (used in various contexts of the American West), "coal country" (used to describe coal-mining regions), or simply "the country" (used to describe a rural area).[8][9] The term "country" is also used as a qualifier descriptively, such as country music or country living.[10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fowler Bunck 1996 pp. 381–404 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference World Population by Country 2024 (Live) 1945 w673 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference academic.oup.com i784 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Jones, J (1964). "What Makes a Country?". Human Events. 24 (31): 14.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference World Population by Country 2024 (Live) z997 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Seguin 2011 f032 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "In quite a state". The Economist. 8 April 2010. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference oed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Definition of COUNTRY". Merriam-Webster. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  10. ^ "country". Cambridge Dictionary. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.