I am looking for a list of all countries, as currently recognized by
the UN, segregated by geographical regions:

 - Continent or Island Group
 - Geographical Region (within each Continent)
 - Sub-region
 ----Sub-sub region

---- Possibly, a "sub-sub" region, [my term], could be where countries
overlap regions or it could be a whole new group.  For example, in
some circles, Russia could be considered to be part of Europe and
Asia, or parts of it could be part of Central or East Asia.  So, for
example, how do you describe Russia?

In the best of all worlds, you will link me to a geographical site (or
two) that will allow me to copy their schedules into a spreadsheet and
they will describe their reasons (definitions) for their
classification.

Let me give some examples that illustrate my question.  

For many months, the UN has been referring to Afghanistan as a country
in "Central Asia".  Recently, they changed that to "South Asia".  (I
always thought it was part of "South Asia", but who was I to question
the UN?  :)

Where does Europe and Asia begin by geographical standards.  How do
those standards differ from the regional references (descriptions)
used by the major world organizations (UN, WTO, WHO, IMF, etc.).

Thanks for your help.

Becky

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 27 Oct 2002 10:14 PST

Hi! I have found the region classifications you were looking for but
not so much of the sub and sub-sub regions. I also have them both in
table form and in map form. I also do not have the "schedules" you
were looking for and my sources also describes only the classification
made by the UN. Will this be considered as a legitimate answer? Just
let me know. :)

---

Clarification of Question by beckyp-ga on 27 Oct 2002 14:26 PST

Since I don't have the table you are referring to, I'm not sure if it
will meet my needs.  I did find one table on the UN site:  "World Bank
List of Economies" (July 2002), which does have a region column. 
However, it does not meet my needs because many countries' region is
blank or it is a combination such as 'Europe and Central Asia' or
'East Asia and Pacific'.

I don't need the map ... just the table.  Also, it might be good to
have 2 tables for comparison.  Anything out there by geographers?
Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 27 Oct 2002 16:59 PST

Good to have you back. I have here a link for the table:

"WORLD MACRO REGIONS AND COMPONENTS"
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/worldregions.htm

Eventhough you do not like the map, I think if I understood your
objective very well, these maps provide different sub regions in the
world and could be very valuable to your research.

Examples of types of maps: (Other classifications are available)

World
South Asia
Central Asia
Western Asia
Greater Mekong Subregion
Freat Lakes Region 1, 2 and 2 (French)

If you feel that the table answers your needs I will post this as
answer including the maps mentioned above. Again just let me know. :)

---

Clarification of Question by beckyp-ga on 27 Oct 2002 18:19 PST

Hello again, and I'm sorry to say that the above list (from your link)
has about 232 countries, if I've counted correctly.  I think the
problem is in their listing of some of the Pacific Islands ... but I'm
not sure.  Plus, there are a few odd groupings, particularly "South
and Central Asia".  The UN list that I referred to in my original
question has 208 countries as of July 2002.  When I check
infoplease.com, they have 201 countries, which includes 2 "proposed"
states.  Again, I haven't compared all the lists to determine the
differences.

I'm putting the above information into "look-up" tables in an Access
data base.  I need to have a couple of definitive, reliable sources
for the country names, spellings and geographic regions to support my
tables.  I was hoping that I could just C&P the information into Excel
and then import it into Access with a minimum of fuss, error and
typing.

---

Clarification of Question by beckyp-ga on 27 Oct 2002 22:39 PST

Hello Again.

I found what I was looking for at this site:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2144.html

This list includes about 262 "countries" of which 70 are special
areas, such as protectorates.  There's another list of the special
areas elsewhere on the site, so I can delete the special areas from
the list.

Thanks for your help.