This a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Caribbean Region.
The Caribbean Region can be taken to mean all the countries in and around the Caribbean Sea that lies within an area that stretches from Grand Bahama Island in the north to Curaçao in the south, and French Guiana in the east to Belize in the west.This is an expanse (mostly of ocean) which measures about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from north to south, and over 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometres) from east to west.
Ignoring the Central and South American nations that border the Caribbean Sea (whose cultural and linguistic heritage sets their history out of the scope of the region) there is a total of sixteen independent or sovereign states and nine island groupings that remain dependencies in one form or another, to the nations of the United Kingdom, United States, France, and the Netherlands.
Most sovereign states in the Caribbean (and one British dependency) are members of the Caribbean Community which is an international organisation formed to promote regional integration and collaboration among member states.