United Nations geoscheme

The United Nations geoscheme is a system that helps organize the world's 248 countries and territories into six big continental areas, 22 smaller subregions, and two middle areas. It was made by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) using something called the M49 coding classification. The people who made it say that putting countries into these groups is just to make it easier to count and compare things, and it doesn't mean anything about political ties.

22 geographical subregions as defined by the UNSD. Antarctica[a] is not shown.

This system was created to help with statistical analysis, meaning it helps experts study and compare data from different parts of the world. The big regions are mostly based on continents. Inside each big region, there are smaller areas that group together countries and territories. Sometimes, countries are also put into groups based on things like their economy, such as landlocked developing countries, the least developed countries, and the Small Island Developing States.

One interesting thing is that Antarctica doesn't have any smaller areas or countries in this system. Also, the UNSD geoscheme is just one way to group countries, and it doesn't rule how the whole United Nations System works. Other groups, like the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and UNESCO, sometimes put countries in different areas for their own reasons. There are also other ways to group countries, like the World Bank regional classification, CIA World Factbook regions, and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers Geographic Regions.

Maps

The United Nations has created maps to show how countries and areas are grouped into different parts of the world. These maps cover four main areas: Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Each map follows a special system made by the United Nations to help organize information for counting and studying different places around the globe.

Africa

Main article: Africa

Further information: List of regions of Africa

Eastern Africa

Main article: East Africa

Further information: Horn of Africa

See also: Comoro Islands and Mascarene Islands

Middle Africa

Main article: Central Africa

Further information: Cameroon line

Southern Africa

Main article: Southern Africa

Western Africa

Main article: West Africa

Further information: Macaronesia

Americas

Main article: Americas

The Americas is one of the six main regions of the world according to the United Nations. It includes many countries and islands. This area is split into two main parts: Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern America.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Main article: Latin America and the Caribbean

Further information: Latin America

Latin America and the Caribbean is a part of the Americas. It has many countries and island groups. This area is further divided into smaller regions.

Caribbean

Main articles: Caribbean and West Indies

Further information: Antilles, Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and Lucayan Archipelago

The Caribbean is a group of islands and island groups. It is part of Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Central America

Main article: Central America

Further information: Middle America (Americas)

Central America is a narrow strip of land that connects North America to South America. It is part of the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

South America

Main article: South America

Further information: Caribbean South America, Southern Cone, and The Guianas

South America is the southern part of the Americas. It is a large continent with many countries. It is part of the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Northern America

Main article: Northern America

Further information: Anglo-America

Asia

Main article: Asia

Further information: Far East

The United Nations has a special way to group countries and areas in the world. This system helps make counting and studying easier. Asia is one of the big parts of this system. It has many smaller parts too, like Central Asia, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia, and Western Asia.

Each smaller part of Asia has its own main article and more details you can read if you want to learn more. For example, Eastern Asia has extra information about the Far East and Northeast Asia. There are also special notes about places like Taiwan and Northern Asia, which is part of Siberia. These notes explain how some groups include these places when they look at data for Asia.

Europe

Main article: Europe

Further information: Regions of Europe

The United Nations groups countries in Europe into different areas to help with statistics. These areas are called subregions, and they help organize information about many places.

Oceania

Main article: Oceania

Further information: Near Oceania and Remote Oceania

Australia and New Zealand

Main article: Australasia

Further information: Down Under

Melanesia

Main article: Melanesia

Further information: Island Melanesia

Micronesia

Main article: Micronesia

Further information: Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands

Polynesia

Main article: Polynesia

Further information: Polynesian outlier and Polynesian Triangle

See also: Hawaiian Islands and Samoan Islands