The marked territories on this global map are mostly of countries which are sovereign states with full international recognition (brackets denote the country of a marked territory that is not a sovereign state). Some territories are countries in their own right but are not recognized as such (e.g. Taiwan ), and some few marked territories are disputed about which country they belong to (e.g. Kashmir ) or if they are countries in their own right (e.g. Western Sahara (territory) or the state known by the same name ). A country world , such as a state , nation , or other political entity . When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state , states with limited recognition , constituent country , or a dependent territory . Most sovereign states, but not all countries, are members of the United Nations . There is no universal agreement on the number of "countries" in the world since several states have disputed sovereignty status, limited recognition and a number of non-sovereign entities are commonly called countries.
The definition and usage of the word "country" are flexible and has changed over time. The Economist
Areas much smaller than a political entity may be referred to as a "country", such as the West Country in England, "big sky country" (used in various contexts of the American West ), "coal country" (used to describe coal-mining regions ), or simply "the country" (used to describe a rural area ). The term "country" is also used as a qualifier descriptively, such as country music or country living . (Full article...
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. Belarus Republic of Belarus , is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe . It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Covering an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) and with a population of 9.1 million, Belarus is the 13th-largest and the 20th-most populous country in Europe. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions . Minsk is the capital and largest city ; it is administered separately as a city with special status.
Between the medieval period and the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including
Kievan Rus' , the
Principality of Polotsk , the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and the
Russian Empire . In the aftermath of the
Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the
Civil War , ultimately ending in the rise of the
Byelorussian SSR , which became a founding
constituent republic of the
Soviet Union in 1922. After the
Polish-Soviet War , Belarus lost almost
half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the
Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the
Soviet invasion of Poland , and were finalized after World War II. During World War II, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the
United Nations , along with the Soviet Union. The republic was home to a widespread and diverse
anti-Nazi insurgent movement which dominated politics until well into the 1970s, overseeing Belarus'
transformation from an agrarian to industrial economy. (
Full article... )
List of Recognized articles
A monarchy form of government in which a person, the monarch , is head of state for life or until abdication . The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy ), to fully autocratic (absolute monarchy ), and can span across executive , legislative , and judicial domains.
The
succession of monarchs has mostly been
hereditary , often building
dynasties . However,
elective and
self-proclaimed monarchies have also often occurred throughout history.
Aristocrats , though not inherent to monarchies, often serve as the pool of persons from which the monarch is chosen, and to fill the constituting institutions (e.g.
diet and
court ), giving many monarchies
oligarchic elements. (
Full article... )
List of selected articles to understand countries
The following are images from various country-related articles on Wikipedia.
Remaining countries not listed in the Recognized articles section at left are displayed here.
Angola Republic of Angola , is a country on the west-central coast of Southern Africa . It is the second-largest Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking ) country in both total area and population and is the seventh-largest country in Africa . It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an exclave province, the province of Cabinda , that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda .
Angola has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic Age . Its formation as a nation-state originates from the
Kingdom of Kongo , the
hegemonic state of a number of other
Kikongo-speaking kingdoms that flourished in and after the 14th century. The Kingdom of Kongo became extremely wealthy and powerful through establishing the
Atlantic slave trade with the
Portuguese Empire , which first established relations with Kongo in 1483 and gradually began building coastal settlements and
trading posts . The banning of the slave trade in the 19th century severely disrupted Kongo's
undiversified economic system, allowing European settlers to gradually begin establishing themselves in the interior. The
Portuguese colony that became Angola did not have its present borders until the early 20th century, owing to resistance by native groups such as the Cuamato, the
Kwanyama and the
Mbunda . After a protracted
anti-colonial struggle , Angola achieved independence in 1975 as a
one-party Republic . The country descended into a devastating
civil war the same year, between the ruling
People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), backed by the
Soviet Union and
Cuba , the insurgent
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola , an originally
Maoist and later anti-communist group supported by the
United States and
South Africa , and the militant organization
National Liberation Front of Angola , backed by
Zaire . The country has been governed by MPLA ever since its independence in 1975. Following the end of the war in 2002, Angola emerged as a relatively stable
constitutional republic . (
Full article... )
Top 10 WikiProject Countries Popular articles of the month
Image 1 The
United States of America (
USA or
U.S.A. ), commonly known as the
United States (
US or
U.S. ) or
America , is a country
primarily located in
North America . It is
a federation of 50
states ,
a federal capital district (
Washington, D.C. ), and 326
Indian reservations . Outside the union of states, it asserts sovereignty over five major
unincorporated island territories and various
uninhabited islands . The country has the world's
third-largest land area , second-largest
exclusive economic zone , and
third-largest population , exceeding 334 million.
Paleo-Indians migrated across the
Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago.
British colonization led to the first settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies in
Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the
British Crown over taxation and
political representation sparked the
American Revolution , with the
Second Continental Congress formally
declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in the
Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the country continued to
expand across North America . As more
states were admitted , sectional division over
slavery led to the secession of the
Confederate States of America , which fought the remaining states of the
Union during the 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the Union's victory and preservation,
slavery was abolished nationally . By 1890, the United States had established itself as a
great power . After
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S.
entered World War II . The
aftermath of the war left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as the world's two
superpowers and led to the
Cold War , during which both countries engaged in a struggle for ideological dominance and international influence. Following the
Soviet Union's collapse and the
end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. emerged as the world's
sole superpower .
The
U.S. national government is a
presidential constitutional republic and
liberal democracy with
three separate branches :
legislative ,
executive , and
judicial . It has a
bicameral national legislature composed of the
House of Representatives , a
lower house based on population; and the
Senate , an
upper house based on equal representation for each state. Substantial autonomy
is given to states and several territories , with
a political culture that emphasizes
liberty ,
equality under the law ,
individualism , and
limited government . (
Full article... )
Image 2 Iran , officially the
Islamic Republic of Iran (
IRI ), also known by its Western-given name
Persia, is a country in
West Asia . It is bordered by
Iraq to the west and
Turkey to the northwest,
Azerbaijan ,
Armenia , the
Caspian Sea and
Turkmenistan to the north,
Afghanistan to the east,
Pakistan to the southeast, the
Gulf of Oman and the
Persian Gulf to the south. With a mostly
Persian-ethnic population of almost 90 million in an area of 1,648,195 km
2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran ranks 17th globally in both
geographic size and
population . It is the
sixth-largest country entirely in
Asia , the second-largest in West Asia, and one of the world's
most mountainous countries. Officially an
Islamic republic , Iran has
a Muslim-majority population . The country is divided into
five regions with
31 provinces . The nation's capital and
most populous city is
Tehran , with around 16 million people in its
metropolitan area . Other
major cities include
Mashhad ,
Isfahan ,
Karaj , and
Shiraz .
Iran is one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the
Elamites in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified as a state by the
Medes in the seventh century BC and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when
Cyrus the Great founded the
Achaemenid Empire , one of the largest and most powerful empires in
ancient history .
Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the fourth century BC, subsequently dividing Iran into several
Hellenistic states . An Iranian rebellion established the
Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the
Sasanian Empire .
Muslims conquered the region in the seventh century AD, leading to Iran's
Islamization . Iran became a major centre of
Islamic culture and learning, and its culture, language, and customs spread across the
Muslim world . A series of
native Iranian Muslim dynasties ruled the country until the
Seljuk and the
Mongol conquests of the 11th to 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the native
Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state with
Twelver Shia Islam as the
official religion , marking the beginning of modern Iranian history.
During the
Afsharid Empire in the 18th century, Iran was a leading world power, though by the 19th century, it had lost significant territory
through a series of conflicts with the
Russian Empire . The early 20th century saw the
Persian Constitutional Revolution and the establishment of the
Pahlavi dynasty . Attempts by
Mohammad Mosaddegh to
nationalize the country's vast fossil fuel supply led to an
Anglo-American coup in 1953 . After the
Iranian Revolution , the monarchy was overthrown in 1979 and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by
The Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , who became the country's first
supreme leader . The forces of
Saddam Hussein invaded the
Iranian province of Khuzestan in 1980, initiating the
Iran-Iraq War , which by the end of it in 1988, became the longest
conventional war of the 20th century. Iran is
officially governed as an
Islamic Republic with a
presidential system , albeit with ultimate authority vested in a supreme leader (rahbar), currently
Ali Khamenei since
Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government has attracted criticism for its constraints and violations of
human rights . (
Full article... )
Image 3 India , officially the
Republic of India (
ISO :
Bhārat Gaṇarājya ), is a country in
South Asia . It is the
seventh-largest country by area ; the
most populous country as of June 2023; and from the time of its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the
Indian Ocean on the south, the
Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the
Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with
Pakistan to the west;
China ,
Nepal , and
Bhutan to the north; and
Bangladesh and
Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives ; its
Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with
Thailand , Myanmar, and
Indonesia .
Modern humans arrived on the
Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago.
Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human
genetic diversity .
Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the
Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the
Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium
BCE .
By 1200
BCE , an
archaic form of
Sanskrit , an
Indo-European language , had
diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the
Rigveda . Preserved by an
oral tradition that was
resolutely vigilant , the
Rigveda records the dawning of
Hinduism in India. The
Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions.
By 400
BCE ,
stratification and
exclusion by
caste had emerged within Hinduism,
and
Buddhism and
Jainism had arisen, proclaiming
social orders unlinked to heredity.
Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit
Maurya and
Gupta Empires based in the
Ganges Basin .
Their collective
era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of
untouchability into an organised system of belief. In
South India , the
Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of
Southeast Asia .
In the early medieval era,
Christianity ,
Islam ,
Judaism , and
Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts.
Muslim armies from
Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,
eventually founding the
Delhi Sultanate , and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan
networks of medieval Islam .
In the 15th century, the
Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India.
In the
Punjab ,
Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.
The
Mughal Empire , in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,
leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.
Gradually expanding
rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its
sovereignty .
British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but
technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root. A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule. In 1947 the British Indian Empire was
partitioned into two independent
dominions , a Hindu-majority
Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority
Dominion of Pakistan , amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration. (
Full article... )
Image 4 Israel , officially the
State of Israel , is a country in the
Southern Levant region of
West Asia . It is
bordered by
Lebanon to the north,
Syria to the northeast,
Jordan to the east, the
Red Sea to the south,
Egypt to the southwest, the
Mediterranean Sea to the west, and the
Palestinian territories – the
West Bank along the east and the
Gaza Strip along the southwest.
Tel Aviv is the country's
financial ,
economic , and
technological center. Israel’s governmental seat is in its proclaimed capital of
Jerusalem , although Israeli sovereignty over
East Jerusalem is of
limited international recognition .
Israel is located in a region known historically as
Canaan ,
Palestine , and the
Holy Land . In antiquity, it was home to several
Canaanite , and later,
Israelite and Judahite states, and is referred to as the Land of Israel in
Jewish tradition . Situated at a
continental crossroad , the region subsequently came under the rule of
many different empires . The late 19th century saw the rise of
Zionism in Europe, a movement seeking a
Jewish homeland , which garnered
British support during
World War I . During the war,
British occupation led to the setting up of
Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased
Jewish immigration combined with
British colonial policy led to
intercommunal conflict between
Jews and
Arabs . The 1947
UN Partition Plan triggered
a civil war between the two groups, which saw the
expulsion and flight of most of Mandatory Palestine's predominantly
Arab population , known as the
Nakba , A minority remained and became
Arab citizens of Israel .
The State of Israel
declared its establishment on 14 May 1948, the day the British terminated the Mandate, seeing the
immigration of European Jews displaced during
World War II . On 15 May 1948, the armies of neighboring Arab states invaded the area of former Mandatory Palestine, starting the
First Arab–Israeli War . The
1949 Armistice Agreements established Israel's borders over most of the former Mandate territory. The rest, the
West Bank and the
Gaza Strip , were taken by
Jordan and
Egypt respectively. The 1967
Six-Day War saw Israel occupying the
West Bank , Gaza Strip, Egyptian
Sinai Peninsula and Syrian
Golan Heights . The Israeli government has since established and continues to expand
settlements across the
occupied territories , actions which are deemed illegal
under international law , and has annexed both
East Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights , actions which are largely unrecognized internationally. Since the 1973
Yom Kippur War , Israel has signed peace treaties
with Egypt , returning the Sinai Peninsula, and
with Jordan , and has more recently
normalized relations with several Arab countries . However, international
efforts to resolve the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not succeeded. Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism along with accusations from human rights organizations and
United Nations officials that it has committed
war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people . (
Full article... )
Image 5 The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the
United Kingdom (
UK ) or
Britain , is a country in
Northwestern Europe , off the coast of the
continental mainland . It comprises
England ,
Scotland ,
Wales , and
Northern Ireland . The UK includes the island of
Great Britain , the north-eastern part of the island of
Ireland , and most of the
smaller islands within the
British Isles . Northern Ireland shares
a land border with the
Republic of Ireland ; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean , the
North Sea , the
English Channel , the
Celtic Sea , and the
Irish Sea . The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,354 square miles (244,376 km
2 ), with an estimated population of nearly 67.6 million people in 2022.
In 1707, the
Kingdom of England (which included
Wales ) and the
Kingdom of Scotland united under the
Treaty of Union to create the
Kingdom of Great Britain . The
Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the
Kingdom of Ireland to create the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland
seceded from the UK in 1922 as the
Irish Free State , and the
Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The UK became the first
industrialised country and was the world's
foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "
Pax Britannica " between 1815 and 1914. At its height in the 1920s, the
British Empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the
largest empire in history . However, its involvement in the
First World War and the
Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of
decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of
its former colonies , and
British culture remains globally influential, particularly
in language ,
literature ,
music and
sport .
English is the world's
most widely spoken language and the
third-most spoken native language . (
Full article... )
Image 6 Russia , or the
Russian Federation , is a country spanning
Eastern Europe and
North Asia . It is the
largest country in the world by area , extending across
eleven time zones and sharing
land borders with fourteen countries . It is the
world's ninth-most populous country and
Europe's most populous country . Russia is a highly urbanized country consisting of
16 population centers with over million inhabitants . Its capital as well as
its largest city is
Moscow .
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and
cultural capital .
The
East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state,
Kievan Rus' , arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted
Orthodox Christianity from the
Byzantine Empire . Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the
Grand Duchy of Moscow growing to become the
Tsardom of Russia . By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of
Russian explorers , developing into the
Russian Empire , which remains the
third-largest empire in history . However, with the
Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule
was abolished and eventually replaced by the
Russian SFSR —the world's first constitutionally
socialist state . Following the
Russian Civil War , the Russian SFSR established the
Soviet Union with three other
Soviet republics , within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the
expense of millions of lives , the Soviet Union underwent
rapid industrialisation in the 1930s and later played a decisive role for the
Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the
Eastern Front . With the onset of the
Cold War , it competed with the
United States for global ideological influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the
most significant Russian technological achievements , including the
first human-made satellite and the
first human expedition into outer space .
In 1991, the Russian SFSR emerged from the
dissolution of the Soviet Union as the independent Russian Federation. A new
constitution was adopted, which established a
federal semi-presidential system . Since the turn of the century, Russia's political system has been dominated by
Vladimir Putin , under whom the country has experienced
democratic backsliding and a shift towards
authoritarianism .
Russia has been militarily involved in a number of
conflicts in former Soviet states and other countries , including its
war with Georgia in 2008 and
annexation of Crimea in 2014 from neighbouring
Ukraine , followed by the further annexation of
four other regions in 2022 during
an ongoing invasion . (
Full article... )
Image 7 China , officially the
People's Republic of China (
PRC ), is a country in
East Asia . With
a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's
second-most populous country . China spans the equivalent of five
time zones and
borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the
third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33
province-level divisions : 22
provinces , five
autonomous regions , four
municipalities , and two semi-autonomous
special administrative regions .
Beijing is the national capital, while
Shanghai is
its most populous city and largest
financial center .
One of the
cradles of civilization , China has been inhabited since the
Paleolithic era , with the earliest
dynasties emerging in the
Yellow River basin before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the
Zhou dynasty , accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques,
literature ,
philosophy , and
historiography . In 221 BCE, China was unified under
an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the
Qin ,
Han ,
Tang ,
Yuan ,
Ming , and
Qing . With the invention of
gunpowder and
paper , the establishment of the
Silk Road , and the building of the
Great Wall ,
Chinese culture —including languages, traditions, architecture, philosophy and technology—flourished and has
heavily influenced East Asia and beyond.
After decades of struggle, the monarchy
was overthrown in 1912 and the
Republic of China (ROC) was established. Despite China's eventual victory in the
Second Sino-Japanese War and the
Pacific War in general, numerous atrocities such as the
Nanjing Massacre left lasting effects on the country. Concurrently during this period, the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the
Kuomintang (KMT) government were
fighting sporadically since 1927, with a brief truce as
a united front when
Japan began invading the country. The second phase of the civil war resumed not long after Japan was defeated, and by 1949, the CCP
had established control on most of the territories of the country. As
the KMT retreated to
Taiwan , the country was split with
both sides claiming to be the
sole legitimate government of China. After
the land reforms , later attempts to realize
communism failed—the
Great Leap Forward led to
a massive famine of millions of citizens, while the
Cultural Revolution caused a chaotic period of persecution and zealous
Maoist populism. In 1971, the
PRC replaced the ROC as China's representation in the
United Nations (UN). Following the
Sino-Soviet split , the
Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 marked the beginning of
normalized relations with the United States .
Economic reforms that began in 1978 led by reformists within the CCP moved the country away from a socialist
planned economy toward an increasingly capitalist
market economy , spurring significant economic growth, although liberal and democratic political reforms stalled after the
June Fourth Incident in 1989. (
Full article... )
Image 8 Japan is an
island country in
East Asia . It is in the northwest
Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the
Sea of Japan , extending from the
Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the
East China Sea ,
Philippine Sea , and
Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the
Ring of Fire , and spans
an archipelago of
14,125 islands , with the four main islands being
Hokkaido ,
Honshu (the "mainland"),
Shikoku , and
Kyushu .
Tokyo is
the country's capital and
largest city , followed by
Yokohama ,
Osaka ,
Nagoya ,
Sapporo ,
Fukuoka ,
Kobe , and
Kyoto .
The Japanese archipelago
has been inhabited since the
Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of the region became unified under
an emperor and
the imperial court based in
Heian-kyō . Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (
shōgun ) and feudal lords (
daimyō ), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (
samurai ). After
a century-long period of civil war , the country was reunified in 1603 under the
Tokugawa shogunate , which enacted
an isolationist foreign policy . In 1854,
a United States fleet forced Japan to
open trade to the West , which led to
the end of the shogunate and
the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the
Meiji period , the
Empire of Japan adopted
a Western-modeled constitution , and pursued a program of
industrialization and
modernization . Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan
invaded China in 1937 and entered
World War II as an
Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the
Pacific War and
two atomic bombings , Japan
surrendered in 1945 and came under
a seven-year Allied occupation , during which it adopted
a new constitution .
Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a
constitutional monarchy with a
bicameral legislature, the
National Diet . Japan is a
developed country and a
great power , with one of the
largest economies by nominal GDP . Japan has
renounced its right to declare war , though it maintains
a self-defense force that ranks as one of the world's strongest militaries. A global leader in the
automotive ,
robotics , and
electronics industries , the country has made significant contributions to
science and technology , and is one of the world's
largest exporters and
importers . It is part of multiple major
international and intergovernmental institutions . Japan has over 125 million inhabitants and is the
11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the
most densely populated . About three-fourths of
the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its
highly urbanized population on narrow
coastal plains . Japan is divided into
47 administrative prefectures and
eight traditional regions . The
Greater Tokyo Area is the
most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan has one of the world's
longest life expectancies but has
a population decline due to its very low birth rate. (
Full article... )
Image 9 Taiwan , officially the
Republic of China (
ROC ), is a country in
East Asia .
It is located at the junction of the
East and
South China Seas in the northwestern
Pacific Ocean , with the
People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest,
Japan to the northeast, and the
Philippines to the south. The
territories controlled by the ROC consist of
168 islands with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles). The main
island of Taiwan , also known as
Formosa , has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 square miles), with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its
highly urbanized population is concentrated. The capital,
Taipei , forms along with
New Taipei City and
Keelung the
largest metropolitan area . With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the
most densely populated countries .
Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Ancestors of
Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000 years ago. In the 17th century, large-scale
Han Chinese immigration began under a
Dutch colony and continued under the
Kingdom of Tungning , the first predominantly Han Chinese state in
Taiwanese history . The island was
annexed in 1683 by the
Qing dynasty of China and
ceded to the
Empire of Japan in 1895. The
Republic of China , which had
overthrown the Qing in 1912 , took control following the
surrender of Japan in 1945. Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan
in 1952 . The immediate resumption of the
Chinese Civil War resulted in the loss of the
Chinese mainland to
Communist forces , who
established the People's Republic of China , and
the flight of the ROC central government to Taiwan in 1949. The effective jurisdiction of the ROC has since been limited to Taiwan,
Penghu , and smaller islands.
In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization called the "
Taiwan Miracle ". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ROC transitioned from a
one-party state under
martial law to a
multi-party democracy , with democratically elected presidents
since 1996 . Taiwan's
export-oriented industrial economy is the
21st-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the
20th-largest by PPP measures, with a focus on steel, machinery, electronics, and chemicals manufacturing. Taiwan is a
developed country . It is ranked highly in terms of
civil liberties ,
healthcare , and
human development . (
Full article... )
Image 10 Gross domestic product (GDP) is the
market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official
exchange rates . Nominal GDP does not take into account differences in the
cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of the country's
currency . Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population.
Comparisons of national wealth are also frequently made based on
purchasing power parity (PPP), to adjust for differences in the cost of living in different countries. Other metrics,
nominal GDP per capita and a corresponding
GDP (PPP) per capita are used for comparing national
standard of living . On the whole, PPP per capita figures are less spread than nominal GDP per capita figures.
The
rankings of national economies over time have changed considerably; the United States surpassed the
British Empire 's output around 1916, which in turn had surpassed the
Qing dynasty in aggregate output decades earlier. Since
China's transition to a socialist market economy through controlled privatisation and deregulation, the country has seen its ranking increase from ninth in 1978, to second in 2010; China's economic growth accelerated during this period and its share of global nominal GDP surged from 2% in 1980 to 18% in 2021. Among others, India has also experienced an economic boom since the implementation of
economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. (
Full article... )
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