Countries · independence

Newest Countries in the World

Q: What is the newest country in the world?

South Sudan, independent from Sudan since 9 July 2011.

South Sudan is the youngest country in the world — independent from Sudan since 9 July 2011. 20 countries have become independent since 1990, most after the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

2011

Newest: South Sudan

Independent since 1990

113

Independent since 1945

Independent from the UK

Since 1990
1960–1989
1945–1959
Before 1945

Countries by independence date, newest first

Rank	Country	Independence	Independent from	Continent
1	South Sudan	9 July 2011	Sudan	Africa
2	Kosovo	17 February 2008	Serbia	Europe
3	Serbia	5 June 2006	the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro	Europe
4	Montenegro	3 June 2006	the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro	Europe
5	Palau	1 October 1994	the US-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
6	Eritrea	24 May 1993	Ethiopia	Africa
7	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1 March 1992	Yugoslavia	Europe
8	Kazakhstan	16 December 1991	the Soviet Union	Asia
9	Turkmenistan	27 October 1991	the Soviet Union	Asia
10	Armenia	21 September 1991	the Soviet Union	Europe
11	Tajikistan	9 September 1991	the Soviet Union	Asia
12	Uzbekistan	1 September 1991	the Soviet Union	Asia
13	Kyrgyzstan	31 August 1991	the Soviet Union	Asia
14	Moldova	27 August 1991	the Soviet Union	Europe
15	Belarus	25 August 1991	the Soviet Union	Europe
16	Ukraine	24 August 1991	the Soviet Union	Europe
17	Croatia	25 June 1991	Yugoslavia	Europe
17	Slovenia	25 June 1991	Yugoslavia	Europe
19	Georgia	9 April 1991	the Soviet Union	Europe
20	Namibia	21 March 1990	South African mandate	Africa
21	Micronesia	3 November 1986	the US-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
22	Marshall Islands	21 October 1986	the US-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
23	Brunei	1 January 1984	the UK	Asia
24	Saint Kitts and Nevis	19 September 1983	the UK	Americas
25	Antigua and Barbuda	1 November 1981	the UK	Americas
26	Belize	21 September 1981	the UK	Americas
27	Vanuatu	30 July 1980	France and the UK	Oceania
28	Zimbabwe	18 April 1980	the UK	Africa
29	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	27 October 1979	the UK	Americas
30	Kiribati	12 July 1979	the UK	Oceania
31	Saint Lucia	22 February 1979	the UK	Americas
32	Dominica	3 November 1978	the UK	Americas
33	Tuvalu	1 October 1978	the UK	Oceania
34	Solomon Islands	7 July 1978	the UK	Oceania
35	Djibouti	27 June 1977	France	Africa
36	Seychelles	29 June 1976	the UK	Africa
37	Timor-Leste	28 November 1975	Portugal	Asia
38	Suriname	25 November 1975	the Netherlands	Americas
39	Angola	11 November 1975	Portugal	Africa
40	Papua New Guinea	16 September 1975	the Australia-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
41	Sao Tome and Principe	12 July 1975	Portugal	Africa
42	Comoros	6 July 1975	France	Africa
43	Cape Verde	5 July 1975	Portugal	Africa
44	Mozambique	25 June 1975	Portugal	Africa
45	Grenada	7 February 1974	the UK	Americas
46	Bahamas	10 July 1973	the UK	Americas
47	Bangladesh	16 December 1971	Pakistan	Asia
48	United Arab Emirates	2 December 1971	the UK	Asia
49	Qatar	3 September 1971	the UK	Asia
50	Bahrain	15 August 1971	the UK	Asia
51	Fiji	10 October 1970	the UK	Oceania
52	Tonga	4 June 1970	UK protectorate status	Oceania
53	Equatorial Guinea	12 October 1968	Spain	Africa
54	Eswatini	6 September 1968	the UK	Africa
55	Mauritius	12 March 1968	the UK	Africa
56	Nauru	31 January 1968	the Australia-, NZ-, and UK-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
57	Barbados	30 November 1966	the UK	Americas
58	Lesotho	4 October 1966	the UK	Africa
59	Botswana	30 September 1966	the UK	Africa
60	Guyana	26 May 1966	the UK	Americas
61	Singapore	9 August 1965	Malaysian Federation	Asia
62	Maldives	26 July 1965	the UK	Asia
63	Gambia	18 February 1965	the UK	Africa
64	Zambia	24 October 1964	the UK	Africa
65	Malta	21 September 1964	the UK	Europe
66	Malawi	6 July 1964	the UK	Africa
67	Kenya	12 December 1963	the UK	Africa
68	Uganda	9 October 1962	the UK	Africa
69	Trinidad and Tobago	31 August 1962	the UK	Americas
70	Jamaica	6 August 1962	the UK	Americas
71	Algeria	5 July 1962	France	Africa
72	Burundi	1 July 1962	UN trusteeship under Belgian administration	Africa
72	Rwanda	1 July 1962	Belgium-administered UN trusteeship	Africa
74	Samoa	1 January 1962	New Zealand-administered UN trusteeship	Oceania
75	Kuwait	19 June 1961	the UK	Asia
76	Sierra Leone	27 April 1961	the UK	Africa
77	Mauritania	28 November 1960	France	Africa
78	Nigeria	1 October 1960	the UK	Africa
79	Mali	22 September 1960	France	Africa
80	Gabon	17 August 1960	France	Africa
81	Cyprus	16 August 1960	the UK	Europe
82	Republic of the Congo	15 August 1960	France	Africa
83	Central African Republic	13 August 1960	France	Africa
84	Chad	11 August 1960	France	Africa
85	Côte d'Ivoire	7 August 1960	France	Africa
86	Burkina Faso	5 August 1960	France	Africa
87	Niger	3 August 1960	France	Africa
88	Benin	1 August 1960	France	Africa
89	Somalia	1 July 1960	a merger of British Somaliland, which became independent from the UK on 26 June 1960, and Italian Somaliland, which became independent from the Italian-administered UN trusteeship on 1 July 1960 to form the Somali Republic	Africa
90	DR Congo	30 June 1960	Belgium	Africa
91	Madagascar	26 June 1960	France	Africa
92	Togo	27 April 1960	French-administered UN trusteeship	Africa
93	Senegal	4 April 1960	France	Africa
94	Cameroon	1 January 1960	French-administered UN trusteeship	Africa
95	Guinea	2 October 1958	France	Africa
96	Malaysia	31 August 1957	the UK	Asia
97	Ghana	6 March 1957	the UK	Africa
98	Tunisia	20 March 1956	France	Africa
99	Morocco	2 March 1956	France	Africa
100	Sudan	1 January 1956	Egypt and the UK	Africa
101	Cambodia	9 November 1953	France	Asia
102	Libya	24 December 1951	UN trusteeship	Africa
103	Laos	19 July 1949	France	Asia
104	Sri Lanka	4 February 1948	the UK	Asia
105	Myanmar	4 January 1948	the UK	Asia
106	India	15 August 1947	the UK	Asia
107	Pakistan	14 August 1947	British India	Asia
108	Philippines	4 July 1946	the US	Asia
109	Jordan	25 May 1946	League of Nations mandate under British administration	Asia
110	Syria	17 April 1946	League of Nations mandate under French administration	Asia
111	Vietnam	2 September 1945	France	Asia
112	North Korea	15 August 1945	Japan	Asia
112	South Korea	15 August 1945	Japan	Asia
114	Lebanon	22 November 1943	League of Nations mandate under French administration	Asia
115	Iraq	3 October 1932	League of Nations mandate under British administration	Asia
116	Ireland	6 December 1921	the UK	Europe
117	Afghanistan	19 August 1919	UK control over Afghan foreign affairs	Asia
118	Latvia	18 November 1918	Soviet Russia	Europe
119	Estonia	24 February 1918	Soviet Russia	Europe
120	Lithuania	16 February 1918	Soviet Russia and Germany	Europe
121	Finland	6 December 1917	Russia	Europe
122	Albania	28 November 1912	the Ottoman Empire	Europe
123	New Zealand	26 September 1907	the UK	Oceania
124	Panama	3 November 1903	Colombia	Americas
125	Cuba	20 May 1902	US administration	Americas
126	Australia	1 January 1901	the federation of UK colonies	Oceania
127	Dominican Republic	27 February 1844	Haiti	Americas
128	Luxembourg	1839	the Netherlands	Europe
129	Greece	3 February 1830	the Ottoman Empire	Europe
130	Uruguay	25 August 1825	Brazil	Americas
131	Bolivia	6 August 1825	Spain	Americas
132	Brazil	7 September 1822	Portugal	Americas
133	Ecuador	24 May 1822	Spain	Americas
134	Costa Rica	15 September 1821	Spain	Americas
134	El Salvador	15 September 1821	Spain	Americas
134	Guatemala	15 September 1821	Spain	Americas
134	Honduras	15 September 1821	Spain	Americas
134	Nicaragua	15 September 1821	Spain	Americas
139	Peru	28 July 1821	Spain	Americas
140	Argentina	9 July 1816	Spain	Americas
141	Venezuela	5 July 1811	Spain	Americas
142	Paraguay	15 May 1811	Spain	Americas
143	Chile	18 September 1810	Spain	Americas
144	Colombia	20 July 1810	Spain	Americas
145	Haiti	1 January 1804	France	Americas

Data: CIA World Factbook (public domain) — “independence” field; only countries that became independent from another state are listed.

The 10 newest countries

South Sudan — 9 July 2011 (from Sudan)
Kosovo — 17 February 2008 (from Serbia)
Serbia — 5 June 2006 (from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro)
Montenegro — 3 June 2006 (from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro)
Palau — 1 October 1994 (from the US-administered UN trusteeship)
Eritrea — 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)
Bosnia and Herzegovina — 1 March 1992 (from Yugoslavia)
Kazakhstan — 16 December 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Turkmenistan — 27 October 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Armenia — 21 September 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

Waves of independence

Most of today’s countries are young. Decolonisation created dozens of states in Africa and Asia between 1945 and 1975; the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created 15; the break-up of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia added more in the 1990s. 51 countries in this list became independent from the United Kingdom.

Countries that may be next

Bougainville voted for independence from Papua New Guinea in 2019 and plans to separate by the late 2020s. Somaliland has governed itself since 1991 without recognition, and New Caledonia and Scotland have held independence referendums.

Related rankings

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest country in the world?

South Sudan, independent from Sudan since 9 July 2011.

What are the 5 newest countries?

South Sudan (2011), Kosovo (2008), Serbia (2006), Montenegro (2006) and Palau (1994).

What is the newest country in Europe?

Kosovo (17 February 2008).

What is the oldest country?

See the oldest countries in the world.