What is a country?

Hong Kong and Macau

Strictly speaking, Hong Kong and Macau are two partially-administered territories of China with special status. But Hong Kong and Macau have their own legislation (admittedly influenced by China), their own tax system and when you travel in or out, you get a stamp of Hong Kong or Macau in your passport. If you travel from one of the two areas to the other or to China, you leave and return to China with another stamp.

Both countries have their own currency independent of China. Both countries have their own telephone codes, license plates and internet domains. In Macau, Portuguese is even one of the official languages. And both areas have their own country codes according to ISO, STANAG, United Nations and Fips. Therefore, Hong Kong and Macau are treated as independent countries.

Kosovo

Kosovo is currently the youngest country, which previously included parts of Yugoslavia and Serbia. In 2008 independence was declared from Serbia. On Wikipedia one still speaks of a "stabilized de facto regime." However, there are currently no officially assigned ISO codes for Kosovo. The codes XK and XKX are widely used, but not official. On the other hand, more than half of the member states of the United Nations have already recognized the "Republic of Kosovo" as an independent state. In addition, it has its own country code, domain extension and license plate number.

West Bank and Gaza Strip

Both areas are covered by the CIA with their own data, as if they were individual states, and Wikipedia names "Gaza City" as the capital of the Gaza Strip. However, the ISO code "PS" given there refers to Palestine. Both regions do not have their own legislation, currencies, telephone codes, license plates, country domains or codes according to ISO 3166-1. Both regions are also under the administration of the Palestinian Authority. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are therefore for the time being only autonomous areas of Palestine, but not separate countries.

Germany and other EU countries

The fact that Germany appears in this list of questionable states may seem surprising at first glance. The influence of the European Union, however, severely limits independent legislation. The German government, as well as other governments within the European Union, cannot even decide on a car toll without taking infringement proceedings from the EU. As the discussion about the "Internet Cookie Directive" showed, even an EU directive can automatically become a law in every EU member state, as long as it is formulated clearly enough in Brussels.

In theory, Germany's own legislation is still influenced by the former allies. The current Two-Plus-Four Treaty, for example, contains clauses that clearly limit military change. The constitution and parts of the Basic Law must not be changed either. Germany is de facto not an independent and autonomous state.

Nevertheless, Germany and other EU states meet all other requirements. There were or are own currencies, laws limited by national borders, own tax systems, financial budgets and the states are recognized as such by most UN countries.

Guam and other territories of the USA

The head of state of Guam is the president of the United States, the currency is the US dollar and even the highest judges are appointed by the White House in Washington D.C. The citizens are officially citizens of the United States of America. On the other hand, there is an "inner autonomy," there are national flags and formal peculiarities as well as their own internet domains and country codes according to ISO, STANAG, the United Nations and Fips. Even the CIA lists Guam as a "non-incorporated territory of the United States with political relations between Guam and the USA" — something that does not belong to the USA. Decisive for a classification as "country" for Worlddata.info was the assignment of the ISO code according to 3166-1.

Antarctica

Antarctica is not an independent or even autonomous country. Roughly speaking, it consists of a bunch of research institutions from different countries. Officially there were two inhabitants until a few years ago, but nowhere was it possible to find out what an Antarctic passport looked like or who (apart from the two holders) could have carried out passport control. The Antarctic, however, is listed as a "country" by the German Weather Service in order to assign the measuring stations there. There is even a domain extension of its own (aq). Antarctica also has its own country codes according to ISO, STANAG, the United Nations and Fips, which ultimately led to the ice masses making it to a "country" on Worlddata.info. Please forgive it.

Non-independent countries without political sovereignty

The following local authorities are treated as countries, but are dependent territories of other states: