Map of the World

The world has 195 internationally recognized countries. This total includes 193 United Nations member states plus 2 observer states (the Holy See and Palestine). These countries are distributed across six continents: 54 in Africa, 48 in Asia, 44 in Europe, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 14 in Oceania, and 2 in Northern America.

Russia is the largest country in the world by area at 17,098,242 km² (6,601,665 sq mi). It spans two continents, Europe and Asia, and covers more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia also crosses 11 time zones from Kaliningrad in the west to Kamchatka in the east.

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world at just 0.44 km² (0.17 sq mi). It is an independent city-state enclosed entirely within Rome, Italy. Despite its tiny size, it serves as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and is recognized as a sovereign state.

India and China are the two most populous countries, each with populations exceeding 1.4 billion. India surpassed China as the world's most populous country in 2023. Major cities include Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Shanghai and Beijing in China.

The Eiffel Tower is in Paris, France (Europe). The Great Wall stretches across northern China (Asia). Mount Everest sits on the Nepal-China border and is the world's highest peak. The Grand Canyon is in the United States (Northern America), and the Amazon Rainforest spans Brazil and several other countries in Latin America. Tokyo, Japan, is the world's most populous metropolitan area with roughly 37 million people.

You can use Ultimaps to create custom maps of the world. Color-code countries manually or upload your data, place pins, customize the look and feel, and export to PNG, PDF, or SVG. No sign-up required.

The two main types are political maps and physical maps. Political maps emphasize country borders, capitals, and major cities. Physical maps highlight terrain features like mountains, deserts, and rivers using color gradients (brown and gray for elevation, green for lowlands, blue for water). Many modern interactive maps combine both types.

All world maps distort the 3D surface of the Earth when projecting it onto a 2D plane. The Mercator projection, for example, preserves shapes but exaggerates the size of regions near the poles, making Greenland appear as large as Africa. The Equal Earth projection better preserves the true relative sizes of continents. No single projection can accurately show distances, shapes, areas, and directions simultaneously.

There are six commonly recognized continental groupings for the world's 195 countries. Africa has 54 countries (the most of any continent), Asia has 48, Europe has 44, Latin America and the Caribbean has 33, Oceania has 14, and Northern America has 2. The distribution reflects centuries of colonial history, decolonization, and geopolitical change.

South Sudan is the world's newest country, having gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011. Its creation followed a referendum in which nearly 99% of voters chose separation. Current world political boundaries largely reflect post-WWII decolonization, though changes continue to occur.

The world spans 24 primary time zones, ranging from UTC-12 to UTC+14. Many larger countries observe multiple time zones due to their geographic extent. Russia, for instance, covers 11 time zones, while China uses a single official time zone despite spanning five geographic ones.