Countries visited counter

There is no single official answer. The most common count is the 193 UN member states, or 195 once you add the two observer states, Vatican City and Palestine. The counter starts with the 193 UN members and has a second list that adds the observer states and 40 well-known territories.

That's your call. A common rule is that a country counts once you've cleared the border and spent time on the ground, so a layover inside the airport transit zone doesn't count, and neither does flying over. Pick one rule and keep it the same every year.

Switch to the longer list. It adds well-known territories and dependencies, such as Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Macau, Greenland, and French Polynesia, so you can count them alongside the countries.

Yes. Your ticks live only in the page's link, in the part after the #, which the browser never sends to a server. There's no account and nothing is uploaded. Keep the link to come back to your list.