TheUnited Nations geoscheme is a system that divides248 countries and territories in the world into sixcontinental regions, 22 geographicalsubregions, and two intermediaryregions.[1] It was devised by theUnited Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) based on theM49 coding classification.[2] The creators note that "the assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories".[2]
The UNSD geoscheme was created for statistical analysis and consists of macro-geographical regions arranged to the extent possible according tocontinents.[2] Within each region, smaller geographical subregions and sometimes intermediary regions contain countries and territories. Countries and territories are also grouped non-geographically into selected economic and other sets, such as thelandlocked developing countries, theleast developed countries, and theSmall Island Developing States.
Antarctica does not comprise any geographical subregions or country-level areas.
The UNSD geoscheme does not set a standard for the entireUnited Nations System, and it often differs from geographical definitions used by the autonomousUnited Nations specialized agencies for their own organizational convenience. For instance, the UNSD includesCyprus andGeorgia in Western Asia, yet theUnited Nations Industrial Development Organization andUNESCO include them in Europe.[3][4] This statistical definition also differs fromUnited Nations Regional Groups.
Alternative groupings include theWorld Bank regional classification,[5]CIA World Factbook regions andInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers Geographic Regions.[6][7][8]
Anguilla[a]
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba[b]
Bahamas
Barbados
British Virgin Islands[a]
Cayman Islands[a]
Cuba
Curaçao[b]
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guadeloupe[d]
Haiti
Jamaica
Martinique[d]
Montserrat[a]
Puerto Rico[e]
Saint Barthélemy[f]
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin (French part)[f]
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)[b]
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands[a]
United States Virgin Islands[g]
Argentina
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
Bouvet Island[h]
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Falkland Islands[a]
French Guiana[d]
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands[a]
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)Several institutions and research papers using classification schemes based on the UN geoscheme include Taiwan separately in their divisions of Eastern Asia.
This unofficial subregion covers the entire geographical region ofSiberia. Since this region as a whole falls under thetranscontinental country ofRussia, for statistical convenience, Russia is assigned underEastern Europe by the UNSD, including bothEuropean Russia andAsian Russia under a single subregion. Hence, there is no geopolitical entity that is currently grouped under Northern Asia.
This subregion covers the geographical regions ofMainland Southeast Asia andMaritime Southeast Asia, covering the following geopolitical entities as a whole:
This subregion covers the geographical regions spanning over theIndian subcontinent and theIranian Plateau, covering the following geopolitical entities as a whole:
This subregion covers the geographical regions spanning overAnatolia,Arabia, theLevant,Mesopotamia, and theSouth Caucasus, covering the following geopolitical entities as a whole:
† Although Russia is atranscontinental country coveringNorthern Asia as well, for statistical convenience, Russia is assigned under Eastern Europe by the UNSD, including bothEuropean Russia andAsian Russia under a single subregion.
Australia
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) IslandsHeard Island and McDonald Islands
New Zealand
Norfolk Island
American Samoa
Cook Islands
French Polynesia
Niue
Pitcairn
Samoa
Tokelau
Tonga
Tuvalu
Wallis and Futuna IslandsCountry groups are based on UN geoscheme and World Bank regional classification
