Quick Facts Overview

This library provides concise, source-based profiles of the world's contemporary countries. Country pages are structured to record state formation and independence, population, land area, economic output, major exports, currency, languages, religious demographics, and forms of government. Numerical indicators will identify their reference year and source.

The initial index contains 195 country records: 193 United Nations member states and two United Nations non-member observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine). Dependent territories and other entities are outside this initial scope and may be catalogued separately. Country pages are currently research templates, not completed fact sheets.

Browse by Continent

195 country records

Africa (54 countries)

Country reference pages for Northern, Western, Middle, Eastern, and Southern Africa.

Asia (48 countries)

Country reference pages for Central, Eastern, South-eastern, Southern, and Western Asia.

Europe (44 countries)

Country reference pages for Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe.

North America (23 countries)

Country reference pages for Northern America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

South America (12 countries)

Country reference pages for the sovereign states of South America.

Oceania (14 countries)

Country reference pages for Australia and New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Antarctica

Antarctica has no sovereign countries. It is not included in the 195-country index.

Country Profile Standards

Each country profile is organized into five domains:

  1. Identity and state formation: official name, capital, independence or founding milestones, national day, UN status, geographic classification.
  2. Geography and population: land area (km²), total area when available, population, demographic reference year.
  3. Economy and trade: nominal GDP (US$), GDP per capita (US$), real GDP growth, five-year average real GDP growth, currency (ISO 4217), and principal merchandise exports.
  4. People and society: official and widely spoken languages, religious composition (with census or survey year), and major demographic notes.
  5. Government and institutions: constitutional form, governmental system, legislature and administrative divisions, distinguishing formal arrangements from current practice when necessary.

A single founding date cannot be assigned reliably to every state: independence, unification, constitutional establishment, and older state traditions may have separate dates. GDP is an annual total; GDP per capita and average annual real GDP growth are reported separately. Incomplete or unavailable statistics are explicitly labeled, rather than estimated without attribution.

Continent grouping is an editorial browsing convention informed by the UN M49 statistical geography. Countries with transcontinental territory or contested regional classifications are indexed in one section for ease of navigation; grouping does not constitute a political or territorial judgment. The Holy See and Vatican City State are distinct legal entities; UN non-member observer status belongs to the Holy See.

Data Sources and Methodology

Primary starting points for researching and updating country records:

Figures on future completed profiles should include an observation year and a citation or source link; the website update date alone is not the observation year.