science

List of entities and changes in The World Factbook

List of entities and changes in The World Factbook is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of entities and changes in The World Factbook rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of entities and changes in The World Factbook. The World Factbook was an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world.

Key takeaways

List of entities and changes in The World Factbook belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of entities and changes in The World Factbook to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of entities and changes in The World Factbook from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of entities and changes in The World Factbook. The World Factbook was an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. At the time of its discontinuation in February 2026, The World Factbook consisted of 258 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 below. 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 five entities here:

Antarctica Gaza Strip Paracel Islands Spratly Islands West Bank

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.

Notes

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of entities and changes in The World Factbook

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of entities and changes in The World Factbook claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of entities and changes in The World Factbook before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of entities and changes in The World Factbook ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of entities and changes in The World Factbook

In research: List of entities and changes in The World Factbook appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of entities and changes in The World Factbook in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of entities and changes in The World Factbook is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Central Intelligence Agency publications, Lists of countries, Lists of places, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of entities and changes in The World Factbook outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of entities and changes in The World Factbook in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of entities and changes in The World Factbook means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of entities and changes in The World Factbook out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of entities and changes in The World Factbook in simple terms?

Why does List of entities and changes in The World Factbook matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of entities and changes in The World Factbook?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of entities and changes in The World Factbook.