User:Martin Baldwin-Edwards/Countries draft

There is no internationally-accepted definition of what constitutes a ‘country’.

However, all agree that it is a large geographic region defined by natural, political, or cultural boundaries.

American useage tends to emphasise political boundaries that are recognised by other political entities -somewhat ironic, considering the declaratory nature of the birth of America as a country which, at that time, had ill-defined natural boundaries to the North, South and West and who's cultural separateness from the colonial power had yet to develop. The irony with recent relationships is emphasised even more by the fact that it was only the Republic of France that, at first, recognised the new United States.

Frequently, the term is taken as being synonymous with ‘state’, in line with legal conceptions of sovereignty which stem philosophically from Rousseau and practically from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. However, not all states are recognized: thus, we can distinguish between states with de jure sovereignty [with full recognition by the United Nations] and states with de facto sovereignty, whose claim to statehood is contested by some parties. For the purposes of this article, a country is considered as such if it is an area of land distinguished by its political autonomy and whose population possesses a common or shared sense of identity. This broad definition covers many legal-political forms of country, whose different characteristics are shown by category in the table below.

The first category consist of countries with full sovereignty and, usually, direct control of their foreign policy and relations with foreign governments. 194 ^{[check with UN]} of these are recognized within the United Nations; four more constitute exceptional cases. These are the Holy See, which is granted Observer status within the UN; Kosovo, which is technically a constituent region of Serbia but is under UN administration; Taiwan (also known as the Republic of China) which is a de facto state not recognized by China; and the Western Sahara, which is territory occupied by Morocco. Arguably, Palestine and Northern Cyprus could be placed in this category of de facto states, but legally it is clear that they remain constituent territories of Israel and Cyprus, respectively.

The second category [Constituent Countries] consists of territories which are part of a larger state: the most important example is that of the constituent components of the United Kingdom, namely the countries of England, and Scotland, the principlity of Wales and the province of Northern Ireland. A distinguishing characteristic of such countries is that they are often part of a federal, or quasi-federal, system of governance and have more than a theoretical possibility of independence. The latter test means that, since the American Civil War may be said to have decided the question, none of the United States of America may be regarded as countries in the political sense, although some, such as Hawaii enjoy a cultural distinctiveness and natural boundaries.

The third category [Associated States] comprises a small number of countries with full sovereignty in domestic affairs, but in the international sphere the more powerful country of association – Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand or the UK – is responsible for foreign policy and defence. All of the countries in this category are small islands, which previously had been colonial possessions.

The final category [Dependent Territories] consists of territories which have the weakest claim to statehood and the status of ‘country’. All, apart from Gibraltar, are islands – although Greenland is a great landmass – and all were colonial acquisitions. Some have limited political autonomy, others do not: this category is a complex mix of legal arrangements.

Name	Population 2005 [thousands]	Capital	Currency	Constituent countries	Associated states	Dependent territories
Afghanistan	29,863	Kabul	Afghani
Albania	3,130	Tirana	Lek
Algeria	32,854	Algiers	Algerian dinar
Andorra	67	Andorra la Vella	Euro
Angola	15,941	Luanda	Kwanza
Antigua and Barbuda	81	Saint John's	East Caribbean dollar
Argentina	38,747	Buenos Aires	Argentine peso
Armenia	3,016	Yerevan	Armenian dram
Australia	20,155	Canberra	Australian dollar		Norfolk Island	Christmas Island; Cocos Islands
Austria	8,189	Vienna	Euro
Azerbaijan	8,411	Beku	Azerbaijani manat
Bahamas	323	Nassau	Bahamian dollar
Bahrain	727	Manama	Bahraini dinar
Bangladesh	141,822	Dhaka	Taka
Barbados	270	Bridgetown	Barbadian dollar
Belarus	9,755	Minsk	Belarusian rouble
Belgium	10,419	Brussels	Euro
Belize	270	Belmopan	Belizean dollar
Benin	8,439	Porto Novo (official) Cotonou (de facto)	CFA franc
Bhutan	2,163	Thimphu	Ngultrum
Bolivia	9,182	Sucre (judicial) La Paz (administrative)	Boliviano
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,907	Sarajevo	convertible mark
Botswana	1,765	Gaborone	Botswana pula
Brazil	186,405	Brasilia	Brazilian real
Brunei Darussalam	374	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei dollar
Bulgaria	7,726	Sofia	Lev
Burkina Faso	13,228	Ouagadougou	CFA franc
Burundi	7,548	Bujumbura	Burundi franc
Cambodia	14,071	Phnom Penh
Cameroon	16,322	Yaoundé
Canada	32,268	Ottawa	Canadian dollar
Cape Verde	507	Praia
Central African Republic	4,038	Bangui
Chad	9,749	N'Djamena
Chile	16,295	Santiago	Chilean peso
China, People's Republic of	1,315,844	Beijing	Renminbi
Colombia	45,600	Bogota	Colombian peso
Comoros	798	Moroni
Congo, Democratic Republic of the...	57,549	Kinshasa
Congo, Republic of the	3,999	Brazzaville
Costa Rica	4,327	San José
Côte d'Ivoire	18,154	Yamoussoukro
Croatia	4,551	Zagreb
Cuba	11,269	Havana	Cuban peso
Cyprus	835	Nicosia		Northern Cyprus, Turkish Rep. of
Czech Republic	10,220	Prague
Denmark	5,431	Copenhagen				Faeroe Islands; Greenland
Djibouti	793	Djibouti
Dominica	79	Roseau
Dominican Republic	8,895	Santo Domingo
Ecuador	13,228	Quito
Egypt	74,033	Cairo
El Salvador	6,881	San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea	504	Malabo
Eritrea	4,401	Asmara
Estonia	1,330	Tallinn
Ethiopia	77,431	Addis Ababa
Fiji	848	Suva
Finland	5,249	Helsinki	Euro
France	60,496	Paris	Euro			French Guiana; French Polynesia; French Southern and Antarctic Lands; Martinique; Mayotte; New Caledonia; Reunion; St. Barthelemy; St.-Pierre et Miquelon; Wallis and Futuna
Gabon	1,384	Libreville
Gambia	1,517	Banjul
Georgia	4,474	Tbilisi
Germany	82,689	Berlin	Euro
Ghana	22,113	Accra
Greece	11,120	Athens	Euro
Grenada	103	St. George's
Guatemala	12,599	Guatemala City
Guinea	9,402	Conakry
Guinea-Bissau	1,586	Bissau
Guyana	751	Georgetown
Haiti	8,528	Port-au-Prince
Honduras	7,205	Tegucigalpa
Hungary	10,098	Budapest
Iceland	295	Reykjavik
India	1,103,371	New Delhi
Indonesia	222,781	Jakarta
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	69,515	Tehran
Iraq	28,807	Baghdad
Ireland	4,148	Dublin	Euro
Israel	6,725	Jerusalem	New (Israeli) Sheqel (NIS)	Palestine
Italy	58,093	Rome	Euro
Jamaica	2,651	Kingston	Jamaican dollar
Japan	128,085	Tokyo	Yen
Jordan	5,703	Amman
Kazakhstan	14,825	Astana
Kenya	34,256	Nairobi
Kiribati	99	South Tarawa
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of	22,488	Pyongyang
Korea, Republic of	47,817	Seoul
Kuwait	2,687	Kuwait City
Kyrgyzstan	5,264	Bishkek
Lao People's Democratic Rep.	5,924	Vientiane
Latvia	2,307	Riga
Lebanon	3,577	Beirut
Lesotho	1,795	Maseru
Liberia	3,283	Monrovia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	5,853	Tripoli
Liechtenstein	35	Vaduz	Swiss Franc
Lithuania	3,431	Vilnius
Luxembourg	465	Luxembourg	Euro
Madagascar	18,606	Antananarivo
Malawi	12,884	Lilongwe
Malaysia	25,347	Kuala Lumpur
Maldives	329	Malé
Mali	13,518	Bamako
Malta	402	Valletta
Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of	2,034	Skopje
Marshall Islands	62	Majuro
Mauritania	3,069	Nouakchott
Mauritius	1,245	Port Louis
Mexico	107,029	Mexico City	Mexican peso
Micronesia, Federated States of...	110	Palikir
Moldova, Rep. of	4,206	Chisinau
Monaco	35	Monaco	Euro
Mongolia	2,646	Ulaanbaatar
Montenegro		Podgorica	Euro
Morocco	31,478	Rabat
Mozambique	19,792	Maputo
Myanmar	50,519	Naypyidaw
Namibia	2,031	Windhoek
Nauru	14	none
Nepal	27,133	Kathmandu
Netherlands	16,299	[[Amsterdam but seat of govt. in The Hague]]	Euro		Aruba; Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand	4,028	Wellington	New Zealand Dollar		Cook Islands; Niue	Tokelau
Nicaragua	5,487	Managua
Niger	13,957	Niamey
Nigeria	131,530	Abuja
Norway	4,620	Oslo	Norwegian Krone			Svalbard
Oman	2,567	Muscat
Pakistan	157,935	Islamabad
Palau	20	Melekeok
Panama	3,232	Panama City
Papua New Guinea	5,887	Port Moresby
Paraguay	6,158	Asuncion	Guarani
Peru	27,968	Lima	Peruvian sol
Philippines	83,054	Manila
Poland	38,530	Warsaw
Portugal	10,495	Lisbon	Euro	Madeira
Qatar	813	Doha
Romania	21,711	Bucharest
Russian Federation	143,202	Moscow	Ruble
Rwanda	9,038	Kigali
Saint Kitts and Nevis	43	Basseterre
Saint Lucia	161	Castries
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	119	Kingstown
Samoa	185	Apia
San Marino	28	San Marino	Euro
Sao Tome and Principe	157	Sao Tome
Saudi Arabia	24,573	Riyadh
Senegal	11,658	Dakar
Serbia	10,503	Belgrade		Vojvodina
Seychelles	81	Victoria
Sierra Leone	5,525	Freetown
Singapore	4,326	Singapore
Slovakia	5,401	Bratislava
Slovenia	1,967	Ljubljana	Euro
Solomon Islands	478	Honiara
Somalia	8,228	Mogadishu
South Africa	47,432	Pretoria (executive),
		Cape Town (legislative),
		and Bloemfontein (judicial)
Spain	43,064	Madrid	Euro	Ceuta & Melilla; Canary Islands
Sri Lanka	20,743	Colombo
Sudan	36,233	Khartoum
Suriname	449	Paramaribo
Swaziland	1,032	Mbabane
Sweden	9,041	Stockholm	Swedish krona
Switzerland	7,252	Bern	Swiss Franc
Syrian Arab Republic	19,043	Damascus
Tajikistan	6,507	Dushanbe
Tanzania, United Rep. of	38,329	Dodoma
Thailand	64,233	Bangkok
Timor-Leste, Democratic Rep. of	947	Dili
Togo	6,145	Lomé
Tonga	102	Nuku'alofa
Trinidad and Tobago	1,305	Port of Spain
Tunisia	10,102	Tunis
Turkey	73,193	Ankara
Turkmenistan	4,833	Ashgabat
Tuvalu	10	Funafuti
Uganda	28,816	Kampala
Ukraine	46,481	Kiev
United Arab Emirates	4,496	Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom	59,668	London	Pound sterling	England; Scotland; Wales; Northern Ireland	Guernsey; Jersey; Isle of Man	Anguilla; Bermuda; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands; St. Helena; South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands
United States of America	298,213	Washington		Puerto Rico; Northern Mariana Islands		American Samoa; Baker Island; Howland Island; Jarvis Island; Jonston Atoll; Kingman Reef; Midway Atoll; Guam; Navassa Island; US Virgin Islands; Wake Island
Uruguay	3,463	Montevideo	Uruguayan peso
Uzbekistan	26,593	Tashkent
Vanuatu	211	Port Vila
Venezuela	26,749	Caracas	Venezuelan bolivar
Viet Nam	84,238	Ha Noi
Yemen	20,975	Sana
Zambia	11,668	Lusaka
Zimbabwe	13,010	Harare
Holy See	1	Vatican City
Kosovo		Pristina
Taiwan		Taipei
Westerb Sahara