Talk:List of sovereign states/Sandbox

This is a list of sovereign states, giving an overview of states around the world with information on the status and recognition of their sovereignty.

The list is divided into three parts. It is arranged alphabetically, and contains 203 entries, :
 * 1) The United Nation member states section lists all 192 member states of the United Nations.
 * 2) The Members of a United Nations specialized agency section lists two states which, while not member states of the UN, are member states of at least one of the UN's specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or are a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice.  These are referred to as the Vienna formula organizations.
 * 3) The No United Nations membership section lists nine states which are neither member states of the United Nations or any of the Vienna formula organizations listed above.

Compiling a list such as this can be a difficult and controversial process, as there is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations concerning the criteria for statehood. For more information on the criteria used to determine the contents and sorting of this list, please see the "criteria for inclusion" section below.

Criteria for inclusion
This list derives its definition of a state from Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention of 1933. According to the Convention, a state should possess the following qualifications:
 * (a) a permanent population
 * (b) a defined territory
 * (c) government
 * (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.

In respect of the last qualification, the role of recognition by other states can often be crucial since it implies acceptance into the international community. The list includes all states which are often regarded as satisfying these criteria and claim to be sovereign and independent. However, in many cases, whether an entity satisfies the Montevideo Convention criteria is disputed. It is also important to note that there is a divergence of opinion in international law on whether the Montevideo Convention criteria alone are sufficient qualities of statehood. Links to different theories on this question are provided below.

On the basis of the above criteria, this list includes the following 203 entities:
 * 192 member states of the United Nations
 * 2 states which are not member states of the United Nations, but are member states of at least one of the UN specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or are a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice (the Vienna formula organizations):
 * One state, governed by the Holy See (a United Nations permanent observer in the category "Non-member states" ) and a member of ITU, UPU, WIPO and IAEA: Vatican City
 * One state, a member of IMF, WBG: Kosovo
 * 9 states which are neither member states of the United Nations or any of the Vienna formula organizations listed above:
 * One state with diplomatic relations with more than 100 states and informal relations with 25 others, governed by the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (a United Nations permanent observer): Palestine
 * One state, recognized by 81 UN member states, member of the African Union, in partial control of the Western Sahara (listed by the United Nations as a non self-governing territory): the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
 * One state, and by the ROC, informal relations with six others: Kosovo
 * One state, competing for recognition with another state, currently as the state representing China, but no longer recognised by the United Nations as of 25 October 1971: the Republic of China (ROC; Taiwan)
 * Two states, recognized by four United Nations member states, by Transnistria and by each other: Abkhazia and South Ossetia
 * One state, recognized by one United Nations member state and having informal relations with 19 more: Northern Cyprus
 * One state, recognized by Abkhazia and South Ossetia: Transnistria
 * One state recognized by Transnistria: Nagorno-Karabakh
 * One state not recognized by any other state: Somaliland

Excluded from the list above are the following noteworthy entities that do not satisfy all the qualifications in the Montevideo Convention or which do not claim to be sovereign and independent:
 * Antarctica as a whole has no government and no permanent population. Seven states claim portions of Antarctica and five of these have reciprocally recognised one another's claims. These claims, which are regulated by the Antarctic Treaty System, are neither recognised nor disputed by any other signatory state.
 * The European Union, a sui generis supranational organisation which currently has 27 member states. The member states have transferred a measure of their legislative, executive, and judicial powers to the institutions of the EU, and as such the EU has some elements of sovereignty, without generally being considered a sovereign state. The European Union does not claim to be a sovereign state and has only limited capacity for relations with other states.
 * The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a United Nations observer in the category "Other entities having received a standing invitation to participate as observers in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly and maintaining permanent offices at Headquarters." The order has bi-lateral diplomatic relations with 104 states, but has no territory other than extraterritorial areas within Rome. Its website asserts that "it has always been recognised by nations as an independent subject of international law." The order's Constitution states: "The Order is a subject of international law and exercises sovereign functions." Although the order frequently asserts its sovereignty, including in its name, it does not claim to be a sovereign state. It lacks a defined territory. As with other embassies, Italy could theoretically break diplomatic relations with the order and oblige the non-Italian members to leave Italian territory.  Since all its members are citizens of other states, almost all of them live in their native countries, and those who reside in the order's extraterritorial properites in Rome do so only in connection with their official duties, the order lacks the characteristic of having a permanent population.
 * States forming part of a federal union, for which, see: federated state. Such entities do not claim to be independent, as their respective governments have surrendered sovereignty to a federal government.
 * Dependent territories that are under the sovereignty of states from the above lists.
 * The International Committee of the Red Cross is a nongovernmental organization incorporated under Swiss law with a unique status. Although not a subject of international law, it plays a formal role under the Geneva Conventions as an impartial humanitarian body, and may serve in the same role as a protecting power in times of war.
 * Uncontacted peoples who exercise varying degrees of de facto sovereignty over the areas under their control, but either live in societies that cannot be defined as states or whose statuses as such are currently too data deficient to be definitively known.
 * Entities considered to be micronations are not included, even though they generally claim to be sovereign and independent, and try to enter into diplomatic relations with states that are listed. It is often up to debate whether a micronation truly controls its claimed territory. The permanent populations of micronations are generally small.