Free Printable Countries Visited Checklist (and a US States One Too)
Two PDFs to print, a pencil, and one evening with old passports and camera rolls. Then keep the count going online if you like.
We run an online travel map, so it's a little odd to hand you a piece of paper. But the best way to find out how many countries you've been to is still a printed list, a pencil and a pile of old passports on the kitchen table. You go down the page, you argue about the layover in Frankfurt, and forty minutes later you have a number.
Both checklists below are free PDFs, sized for US Letter. No sign-up, no email address. Print as many as you like.
The countries visited checklist
Two pages. Every country is grouped by continent with a box to tick, and each continent has its own subtotal so you can see where your travel actually happens. Page 2 has a tally box and a short "what counts" section where you pick your rule before you start. More on that below.
Countries Visited Checklist
Download the PDFThe list matches the one our online map uses: the 193 United Nations member states plus the two observer states, Vatican City and Palestine. Two extra places are on the sheet with an asterisk, Taiwan and Puerto Rico, because a lot of travelers count them. They're not part of the 195, and the footnote says so. Tick them or don't; it's your list.
Where the 195 are
People are often surprised by how the count splits up. Africa has more countries than any other continent, and Oceania has more than South America.
That's also why "I've been to every continent" and "I've been to a lot of countries" can be very different claims. A week in Western Europe can tick five boxes. A month in Brazil ticks one.
The US states visited checklist
One page: all 50 states grouped by region, then Washington, D.C. and the five inhabited territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands) in their own group. There are two totals at the top, out of 50 and out of 56, so you can count the strict way or the generous way.
US States Visited Checklist
Download the PDFHow to fill it in, in one evening
- Pick your rule first. Does a layover count? A day trip across a border? A state you only drove through? Tick one of the rules at the bottom of the sheet before you start, or every trip turns into a debate. Our guide to how to count countries visited covers the common rules and the edge cases.
- Start with the easy ones. Home, the big trips, the places you lived. Pen for the sure things.
- Then dig. Passport stamps, a search of your email for "boarding pass" or "booking confirmation", and your photo library's map view will surface trips you forgot. Pencil for the maybes until you've checked.
- Add up each continent in its subtotal line, then the tally box on page 2. Write the total and the date at the top.
Go back further than you think. Todd's list includes five weeks in Thailand in 2021, before the two of us had met.
Ways people use them
- A family countOne sheet per person on the fridge. Kids like beating their parents at something.
- A yearly check-inPrint a fresh one each New Year and compare it with last year's.
- Trip planningHighlight the countries you want next in a different color.
- With a giftTuck a filled-in sheet into a card with a map or pins, so the count comes with the present.
Printing outside the US? Choose "fit to page" when you print on A4 and everything stays on the sheet. Heavier paper or cardstock holds up better if it's going on the fridge.
When you want the count to keep itself
Paper is great for the first count. It's less great three trips later, when the sheet is somewhere in a drawer. That's what our free online map is for: mark each country once and it keeps the running total and your share of the world, and a trip you add later marks its own countries.
There's a matching states visited map for the US, with D.C. and the territories, so the second checklist has an online twin too. Both are free, run in the browser and need no credit card. Start with the countries visited map and copy your ticks across; it takes a few minutes.
Common questions
How many countries are on the checklist?
195: the 193 UN member states plus Vatican City and Palestine. Taiwan and Puerto Rico are also listed, marked with an asterisk, for travelers who count them.
Can I share the PDF?
Yes. Print it, send it to family, hand it out at a travel club. Please just link to this page rather than rehosting the file, so people get the latest version.
