How Many Countries Are in Europe? 44, 46 or 50 — the Full List by Region

By Serdar Freimoser · Updated 26 October 2026 · Guide · 6 minute read · Auf Deutsch lesen

Europe has 44 countries if you count the way UN statistics do: 43 UN member states plus Vatican City, Russia included. With Kosovo it is 45, the Council of Europe has 46 members, and if you add the transcontinental states from Turkey to Kazakhstan you reach 50. Below is every country by region, exactly as it sits on our globe.

The number: 44, 46 or 50?

Europe is the continent with the most ways of counting, because its eastern border is not a coastline but an agreement. The numbers you will meet:

For everyday use: 44 countries, 45 with Kosovo. Whoever says "I have been to every country in Europe" should add whether Russia, Turkey and the Caucasus are included – otherwise you are comparing 44 with 50.

Every country in Europe by region

The grouping follows the map data of our globe (Natural Earth) with six regions. UN statistics know only four – Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Europe – and file Poland and Czechia under Eastern Europe, Croatia and Serbia under Southern Europe. Territories without UN membership are marked.

Northern Europe (10 states + Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Åland (not a UN member))

• 🇩🇰 Denmark
• 🇪🇪 Estonia
• 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands – not a UN member
• 🇫🇮 Finland
• 🇬🇬 Guernsey – not a UN member
• 🇮🇸 Iceland
• 🇮🇪 Ireland
• 🇮🇲 Isle of Man – not a UN member
• 🇯🇪 Jersey – not a UN member
• 🇱🇻 Latvia
• 🇱🇹 Lithuania
• 🇳🇴 Norway
• 🇸🇪 Sweden
• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
• 🇦🇽 Åland – not a UN member

Western Europe (8 states)

• 🇧🇪 Belgium
• 🇫🇷 France
• 🇩🇪 Germany
• 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein
• 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
• 🇲🇨 Monaco
• 🇳🇱 Netherlands
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland

Central Europe (6 states)

• 🇦🇹 Austria
• 🇨🇿 Czechia
• 🇭🇺 Hungary
• 🇵🇱 Poland
• 🇸🇰 Slovakia
• 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Eastern Europe (4 states)

• 🇧🇾 Belarus
• 🇲🇩 Moldova
• 🇷🇺 Russia
• 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Southeast Europe (8 states)

• 🇦🇱 Albania
• 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
• 🇭🇷 Croatia
• 🇲🇪 Montenegro
• 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
• 🇷🇴 Romania
• 🇷🇸 Serbia

Southern Europe (8 states + Vatican City (not a UN member))

• 🇦🇩 Andorra
• 🇨🇾 Cyprus
• 🇬🇷 Greece
• 🇮🇹 Italy
• 🇲🇹 Malta
• 🇵🇹 Portugal
• 🇸🇲 San Marino
• 🇪🇸 Spain
• 🇻🇦 Vatican City – not a UN member

The edge cases

• Russia – most of its area lies in Asia, three quarters of its people live in Europe. UN statistics: Eastern Europe. No longer in the Council of Europe since 2022.
• Turkey – about three percent of its area lies in Europe (East Thrace, most of Istanbul). UN statistics: Western Asia; Council of Europe member; EU candidate since 1999.
• Cyprus – geographically off the coast of Syria, politically an EU member using the euro. On our globe in Southern Europe, in UN statistics in Western Asia. The north has been occupied by Turkey since 1974 and is recognised only by Turkey.
• Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan – on or south of the Caucasus watershed, members of the Council of Europe, in Eurovision and UEFA; UN statistics: Western Asia.
• Kazakhstan – a small part west of the Urals lies in Europe; in no common list of European countries, but in UEFA.
• Kosovo – independent since 2008, recognised by around 100 states, not by Serbia, Russia, China and five EU members. No UN seat, no ISO code – which is why many maps have no separate shape for it.
• Faroes, Åland, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Svalbard – territories with their own administration and mostly their own ISO code, but not states. Greenland belongs politically to Denmark, geographically to North America.

Europe in numbers

What counts as visited – and how to really "have" Europe

The rule is the same as everywhere: under the strict rule a country counts after a night's stay, under the middle rule once you have left the transit area, under the loose rule even on a layover – the three rules in detail. Europe makes it easy and hard at once: easy, because 29 Schengen countries sit side by side without border checks and an Interrail pass manages ten countries in four weeks; hard, because afterwards you believe you know Europe and have never seen Moldova, Albania or the Faroes.

That is why Love the World has not one Europe title but several: "Europe Champion" for ten European countries, "Schengen Collector" for fifteen, plus "Northern Lights" (four Northern European), "Mediterranean Diet" (five Southern European), "East of Vienna" (five Eastern European) and "Western Europe Loop" (four Western European). Each of the 50 shapes above gets its own entry stamp in the passport – Åland and the Channel Islands included, because maps show territories, not memberships. See how the app works, or continue with Africa, the continent with the most countries.

Sources (retrieved 26 October 2026): UN member states · UN Statistics Division M49 · Council of Europe: member states · EU: member countries · Schengen Area · Natural Earth

Frequently asked questions