Changes

'''Entities:'''  Some of the independent states, dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and [[government]]s are not independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US Government.

'''Entities:'''  Some of the independent states, dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and [[government]]s are not independent, and others are not officially recognized by the US Government.

* "Independent state" refers to a people politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory

* "[[Independent state]]" refers to a people politically organized into a [[sovereign state]] with a definite [[territory]]

* "Dependencies" and "areas of special sovereignty" refer to a broad category of political entities that are associated in some way with an independent state

* "[[Dependencies]]" and "[[areas of special sovereignty]]" refer to a broad category of political entities that are associated in some way with an independent state

* "Country" names used in the table of contents or for page headings are usually the short-form names as approved by the US Board on Geographic Names and may include independent states, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty, or other geographic entities

* "[[Country]]" names used in the table of contents or for page headings are usually the short-form names as approved by the US Board on Geographic Names and may include independent states, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty, or other geographic entities

There are a total of 268 separate geographic entities in The World Factbook that may be categorized as follows:

There are a total of 268 separate geographic entities in [[The World Factbook]] that may be categorized as follows:

== INDEPENDENT STATES ==

== INDEPENDENT STATES ==