The world’s political map currently has 195 countries on it. 193 hold full UN membership, with Vatican City and Palestine as observer states. Africa has 54 of them. South America, which is physically larger than Europe, has 12.
Russia and Kazakhstan are treated as Asian countries here, since most of their territory is in Asia.
Rank
Continent
Number of Countries
Area (M km²)
Area (M sq mi)
Countries per M km²
Countries per M sq mi
1
Africa
54
30.37
11.73
1.78
4.60
2
Asia
49
44.58
17.21
1.10
2.85
3
Europe
43
10.53
4.07
4.08
10.57
4
North America
23
24.71
9.54
0.93
2.41
5
Oceania
14
8.53
3.29
1.64
4.25
6
South America
12
17.84
6.89
0.67
1.74
7
Antarctica
0
14.20
5.48
0
0
Total
195
Europe comes out at 4.08 countries per million km². South America is at 0.67, roughly six times less. South American territories came out of independence roughly the size they went in and never really fragmented. In Europe, small principalities and kingdoms spent centuries competing and surviving, and a few of them are still sitting in the table below as fully sovereign nations today.
Population data by continent follows.
North America (23 countries)
Country
Population
USA
340.1M
Mexico
130.9M
Canada
41.3M
Guatemala
18.4M
Haiti
11.8M
Dominican Republic
11.4M
Cuba
11.0M
Honduras
10.8M
Nicaragua
6.9M
El Salvador
6.3M
Costa Rica
5.1M
Panama
4.5M
Jamaica
2.8M
Trinidad and Tobago
1.4M
Belize
417.1K
Bahamas
401.3K
Barbados
282.5K
Saint Lucia
179.7K
Grenada
117.2K
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
100.6K
Antigua and Barbuda
93.8K
Dominica
66.2K
Saint Kitts and Nevis
46.8K
Total
~593M
Three countries hold almost all the weight here. Past Canada, the table shifts into a different category entirely — mostly small Caribbean island nations, some with populations a large university would match.
South America (12 countries)
Country
Population
Brazil
212.0M
Colombia
52.9M
Argentina
45.7M
Peru
34.2M
Venezuela
28.4M
Chile
19.8M
Ecuador
18.1M
Bolivia
12.4M
Paraguay
6.9M
Uruguay
3.4M
Guyana
831.1K
Suriname
634.4K
Total
~434M
Brazil alone covers roughly half the continent in both territory and population. Guyana and Suriname are each larger than the United Kingdom yet together have only about 1.4 million people. The Caribbean subregion of North America ended up with more sovereign states than all of South America.
Europe (43 countries)
Country
Population
Germany
83.5M
United Kingdom
69.2M
France
68.5M
Italy
59.0M
Spain
48.8M
Ukraine
37.9M
Poland
36.6M
Romania
19.1M
Netherlands
18.0M
Belgium
11.9M
Czechia
10.9M
Portugal
10.7M
Sweden
10.6M
Greece
10.4M
Hungary
9.6M
Austria
9.2M
Belarus
9.1M
Switzerland
9.0M
Serbia
6.6M
Bulgaria
6.4M
Denmark
6.0M
Finland
5.6M
Norway
5.6M
Slovakia
5.4M
Ireland
5.4M
Croatia
3.9M
Bosnia and Herzegovina
3.2M
Lithuania
2.9M
Albania
2.7M
Moldova
2.4M
Slovenia
2.1M
Latvia
1.9M
North Macedonia
1.8M
Estonia
1.4M
Luxembourg
677.7K
Montenegro
623.8K
Malta
574.3K
Iceland
404.6K
Andorra
81.9K
Liechtenstein
40.2K
Monaco
38.6K
San Marino
34.0K
Vatican City
882
Total
~745M
Monaco covers 2 km². Vatican City has 882 residents and Rome surrounds it on all sides. San Marino and Liechtenstein are under 200 km² each. All four are fully recognized sovereign nations. Ukraine is Europe’s largest country by area, Russia aside, and France ranks second.
Africa (54 countries)
[INSERT AFRICA TABLE HERE]
Country
Population
Nigeria
232.7M
Ethiopia
132.1M
Egypt
116.5M
DR Congo
109.3M
Tanzania
68.6M
South Africa
64.0M
Kenya
56.4M
Sudan
50.4M
Uganda
50.0M
Algeria
46.8M
Morocco
38.1M
Angola
37.9M
Mozambique
34.6M
Ghana
34.4M
Madagascar
32.0M
Côte d’Ivoire
31.9M
Cameroon
29.1M
Niger
27.0M
Mali
24.5M
Burkina Faso
23.5M
Malawi
21.7M
Zambia
21.3M
Chad
20.3M
Somalia
19.0M
Senegal
18.5M
Zimbabwe
16.6M
Guinea
14.8M
Benin
14.5M
Rwanda
14.3M
Burundi
14.0M
Tunisia
12.3M
South Sudan
11.9M
Togo
9.5M
Sierra Leone
8.6M
Libya
7.4M
Congo (Republic)
6.3M
Liberia
5.6M
Central African Republic
5.3M
Mauritania
5.2M
Eritrea
3.5M
Namibia
3.0M
Gambia
2.8M
Gabon
2.5M
Botswana
2.5M
Lesotho
2.3M
Guinea-Bissau
2.2M
Equatorial Guinea
1.9M
Mauritius
1.3M
Eswatini
1.2M
Djibouti
1.2M
Comoros
866.6K
Cabo Verde
524.9K
São Tomé and Príncipe
235.5K
Seychelles
121.4K
Total
~1.47B
Algeria is bigger than all of Western Europe. São Tomé and Príncipe covers about 1,000 km². Nigeria, which takes up a relatively small fraction of the continent visually, has 230 million people in it.
Asia (49 countries)
Country
Population
India
1.5B
China
1.4B
Indonesia
283.5M
Pakistan
251.3M
Bangladesh
173.6M
Russia
143.5M
Japan
124.0M
Philippines
115.8M
Vietnam
101.0M
Iran
91.6M
Turkey
85.5M
Thailand
71.7M
Myanmar
54.5M
South Korea
51.8M
Iraq
46.0M
Afghanistan
42.6M
Yemen
40.6M
Uzbekistan
36.4M
Malaysia
35.6M
Saudi Arabia
35.3M
Nepal
29.7M
North Korea
26.5M
Syria
24.7M
Sri Lanka
21.9M
Kazakhstan
20.6M
Cambodia
17.6M
Jordan
11.6M
UAE
10.9M
Tajikistan
10.6M
Azerbaijan
10.2M
Israel
10.0M
Laos
7.8M
Turkmenistan
7.5M
Kyrgyzstan
7.2M
Singapore
6.0M
Lebanon
5.8M
Palestine
5.3M
Oman
5.3M
Kuwait
5.0M
Georgia
3.7M
Mongolia
3.5M
Armenia
3.0M
Qatar
2.9M
Bahrain
1.6M
Timor-Leste
1.4M
Cyprus
1.4M
Bhutan
791.5K
Maldives
527.8K
Brunei
462.7K
Total
~4.8B
Bangladesh has 173 million people packed into an area smaller than Greece. Mongolia’s territory is four times Germany’s size, with 3.5 million people in it. India and China together approach 3 billion, more than all the other 47 countries in this region combined.
Oceania (14 countries)
Country
Population
Australia
27.2M
Papua New Guinea
10.6M
New Zealand
5.3M
Fiji
928.8K
Solomon Islands
819.2K
Vanuatu
327.8K
Samoa
218.0K
Kiribati
134.5K
Micronesia
113.2K
Tonga
104.2K
Marshall Islands
37.5K
Palau
17.7K
Nauru
11.9K
Tuvalu
9.6K
Total
~46M
Australia and Papua New Guinea together account for the vast majority of the region’s population. The remaining 12 countries are all island nations, most with populations under a million.
