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List of people by number of countries visited


This is a list of people by number of countries and territories visited.

There are a number of people claiming to have visited every country in the world, though there is great debate as to how many countries there are in the world. The most commonly agreed base number is the number of United Nations member states, of which there are 193. According to the United Nations, "The recognition of a new State or Government is an act that only other States and Governments may grant or withhold." As a result, the membership of some countries to the United Nations is blocked by one or more other members, such as Taiwan and Kosovo, and there are also two observer states, the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Additionally, there are various dependencies and territories that maintain autonomy, their own government, immigration, and/or print their own currency, and can be widely held as de facto countries by travellers. ISO 3166 is maintained by ISO as an updated list of the aforementioned derived from United Nations sources (Terminology Bulletin Country Names and the Country and Region Codes for Statistical Use maintained by the United Nations Statistics Divisions), and lists 249 countries. The Travelers' Century Club, whose membership is limited to those travellers who have visited one hundred or more territories of the world, maintains its own official list of countries and territories, a total of 325 as of 1 January 2016, which includes geographically separated areas, such as Hawaii and other areas of cultural interest. This list of people by countries visited does not prescribe one list as correct; rather, it lists the number of countries visited from any of these competing lists. The Best Travelled is also considered a reference for the 1281 world regions and well travelled people, and hold a verification process to check on traveller's claims. Their UN Master List regroups all those travellers.

There are no official criteria of what constitutes a visit. It is strongly advocated by seasoned travellers that transiting in an airport does not qualify as visiting a country, for example, on a question posed on TravelBlog, "How do you count the countries you have been in?", 91% of the respondents who expressed an opinion on this common question stated that to visit a country a person must clear immigration and exit the airport. Some travellers propose that actions such as staying one night in a hotel, or buying a meal, are essential, yet others note that countries and territories such as the Vatican City or Antarctica do not have hotels or restaurants. Based on the opinions on traveller's blogs it is wise to focus on a core set of criteria where there is agreement by the majority as follows:


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