What Percentage of the World Have You Visited?
Updated November 10, 2026
Divide the number of countries you have visited by the total number of countries and multiply by 100. With 25 countries out of 195, that is 25 ÷ 195 × 100 = 12.8%. Use 193 instead of 195 if you count UN member states only.
Quick reference
| Countries visited | Of 193 | Of 195 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 5.2% | 5.1% |
| 20 | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 30 | 15.5% | 15.4% |
| 50 | 25.9% | 25.6% |
| 75 | 38.9% | 38.5% |
| 100 | 51.8% | 51.3% |
| 150 | 77.7% | 76.9% |
Count share and land share are different
The percentage of countries treats every country as one unit, so San Marino weighs as much as Brazil. The percentage of land weighs each country by its area. The two can be far apart in either direction.
- Visit Russia, Canada, the United States, China, Brazil and Australia and you have been to 6 of 193 countries, about 3%, but those six cover over 40% of the world's land.
- Visit 20 small European countries and your count is above 10% while your land share is only a few percent.
Land share is generous: marking a country counts all of its area, although nobody sees all of Russia. Treat it as a description of your map, not of the ground you have covered.
Other ways to measure
- Continents: seven is the usual total, six if you leave out Antarctica.
- Cities: useful for travellers who return to the same countries.
- Distance: the total length of your routes, often compared with the 40,075 km of the equator.
- Days: the number of days you were on a trip, counted from start and end dates.
A worked example
Suppose your map has 18 countries marked as visited and 2 marked as lived in. Both statuses count, so the number is 20. Against the 193 UN member states that is 20 ÷ 193 × 100 = 10.4%. Against 195 it is 10.3%. If one of the twenty were Hong Kong, it would drop out of both totals, because Hong Kong is counted only under the rule that includes territories.
What each new country adds
Every additional country adds the same amount: 0.52 percentage points when you count against 193, and 0.51 against 195. That makes milestones easy to plan.
| Milestone | Countries needed of 193 | Countries needed of 195 |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 20 | 20 |
| 25% | 49 | 49 |
| 50% | 97 | 98 |
| 75% | 145 | 147 |
| 100% | 193 | 195 |
Whole continents
Continents are very unequal in how much they move the percentage. Visiting every one of Africa's 54 UN members is 28% of the world on its own, while all 12 countries of South America are 6.2%. Europe's 44 members are 22.8%, which is why travellers who start in Europe see their percentage climb quickly and then slow down.
Why a percentage can go down
Your percentage falls if you switch to a rule with a larger total, for example from 193 countries to the list of about 250 countries and territories, without having visited any of the added places. It also falls slightly whenever a new state joins the list. Neither change means you have travelled less. Compare percentages only when they use the same total.
A percentage is easiest to trust when it is quoted with its total, as in 20 of 193. The bare figure of 10% hides which list was used.
Try it on your own map
Questions and answers
- What percentage of the world is 30 countries?
- 15.4% of 195 countries, or 15.5% of the 193 UN member states.
- How many countries is 10% of the world?
- Twenty. 20 of 195 is 10.3%, and 20 of 193 is 10.4%.
- Has anyone visited every country?
- Yes. Several hundred people are reported to have visited all 193 UN member states, and the number grows every year. Claims are tracked by clubs and record keepers, each with its own rules about what counts as a visit.