List of Sovereign States and Dependent Territories By Continent

List Of Sovereign States And Dependent Territories By Continent

This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories of the world by continent, displayed with their respective national flags and capitals, including the following entities:

• In bold: Internationally recognized sovereign states
  • The member states of the United Nations (UN)
  • Vatican City (administered by the Holy See, a UN-recognized non-member state)
• In bold italics: States with limited recognition
  • Non-sovereign territories that are not recognized by the UN as part of some member state
  • De facto sovereign states lacking general international recognition
• In italics: Non-sovereign territories that are recognized by the UN as part of some member state
  • Dependent territories
  • Special territories recognized by international treaty (such as the special administrative regions of China)
  • Other territories often regarded as separate geographical territories even though they are integral parts of their mother countries (such as the overseas departments of France)

This list divides the world using the seven-continent model, with islands grouped into adjacent continents. The continents are:

• Africa
• Asia
• Europe
• North America
• South America
• Oceania (a geopolitical region which includes the continent of Australia and the Pacific Islands)
• Antarctica

In other models, Asia and Europe can be combined as Eurasia, while North and South America can be combined as the Americas (for a detailed description of how the world is divided into continents, including different models, see here).

There are sovereign states and dependent territories that can be considered to belong to more than one continent, according to geographical, political, or historical criteria.