Here you can see an interactive map of the countries I have been so far in my life. You can click on any of the ones highlighted orange for a quick access to the travel guides for such country.
For people who do not know me, I am not travelling just to make a tick on the map, but instead I visit as much as I can, and keep returning to many countries as often as I can to visit the rest and more.
The right count of sovereign states in the world is currently 196 (including Taiwan and Palestine). You can see the number varying up and down depending which is the site you’ve checked, but of course a dependent territory or especial administration is not a sovereign country itself, hence not making up the count as a country itself.
Below the map you can find the most up to date listing of countries in alphabetical order and by continent.