So How many Countries Are There In The World?

I was wondering about this question just the other day. I was looking at a globe and wondering what the total number of countries are in the world. As it turns out the number of countries changes from time to time. There is no set number or stable number. Some countries disappear like the old Soviet Union and others are created like Israel was in 1948 and come into being. As of June 2008 the total number of countries in the world stands at 194. If you count Taiwan it would be 195 but nobody counts Taiwan. There has been a long standing dispute about the status of Taiwan. The Chinese government claims Taiwan is a breakaway republic and that it in fact belongs to her. Most countries around the world have to agree not to recognize taiwan as an independent country in order to maintain relations with China. The United States as well as most other countries do this. The total number of countries that are members of the United Nations is 193. The only 2 countries that are not are Taiwan for the reasons specified earlier and the other is Vatican City.
The world's newest country is Kosovo. It became a country officially in February of 2008. The second newest country is Montenegro and that happened in 2006.
Since 1990 28 new countries have come into being. Half of these have come from the former Soviet Union and 7 of these have resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia and Kosovo was among these.