List of entities and changes in The World Factbook



This is a list of entities and changes in The World Factbook. The World Factbook is an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world.

As of July 2011, The World Factbook consists of 267 entities. These entities can be divided into categories. These categories are:


 * Independent countries
 * Others
 * Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty
 * Miscellaneous
 * Other entities

After the list of entities, there is a table that lists entities that have been dropped, added, renamed, or consolidated in The World Factbook.

List of entities
The list of entities follows bellow. The names and flags of entities are as listed in the Factbook and may differ from other sources.

Independent countries
This is a list of independent countries. The CIA defines an independent country as people "politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory". In this category, there are 195 entities:

Others
This is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. There are two entities in this category:

Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty
This category is a list of places affiliated with another country. They may be subdivided into categories using the country they are affiliated with:

Miscellaneous
This category is for Antarctica and places in dispute. There are six entities here:


 * Antarctica
 * Gaza Strip
 * Paracel Islands
 * Spratly Islands
 * West Bank
 * Western Sahara

Other entities
This category is for the World and the oceans. There are five oceans and the World (the World entry is intended as a summary of the other entries ) :


 * Arctic Ocean
 * Atlantic Ocean
 * Indian Ocean
 * Pacific Ocean
 * Southern Ocean
 * World

Changes in The World Factbook
This table lists changes in the entities in the Factbook. Entities that have been added are in green ; dropped entities are in red ; the flag last used by the entity is shown as well. Entities that have changed their name are in blue ; entities that have been redirected and consolidated into another entry are in purple.