Can someone travel to all 195 recognized countries in the world?
Absolutely!
(Lexie Alford, the youngest person to do so)
The world has precisely 195 countries officially recognized by the United Nations. By 2019, there were roughly 150 humans who were documented to have legally gained admittance to every one of those countries. There may be one or two additional people who met this goal during the ongoing pandemic. By the end of 2022, roughly 350 people had visited every country, increasing to about 400 by early 2024.
I have tremendous respect for their accomplishments! My wife and I will visit at least 100 nations in our lifetime. But the risks of visiting Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and other dangerous places simply isn’t worth it to us. Below are just a few notable brave souls have visited all 195 countries of the world.
Rauli Virtanen
A correspondent and writer from Finland, Virtanen may have been the first human to reach every country when he did so in 1988. Of course, back then there were only 170 UN-recognized countries back then.
Babis Bizas
By 2004, this Greek traveler had visited all 193 existing countries in the world. He was probably the first human to do so in the current era in which the world’s countries number in the 190s. It was 2002 when the number of UN-recognized countries increased from 189 to 191. Two countries have been added since that time including Montenegro, gaining independence in 2006, and South Sudan in 2011. So Bizas responded by making another visit to every country, reaching all 195 this time by 2015, the only human to accomplish this twice.
Graham Hughes
A native of England, it took Hughes three years to visit every country, finishing the task in South Sudan on November 26, 2012. However, he didn’t enter Russia at an official checkpoint, crossing a river to illegally set foot in the country instead. The Guinness Book of World Records thus rejected his application for the record because they only recognize world records that are legally accomplished. Hughes returned to Russia - legally - on January 31, 2013, and became the first human to visit every country without ever flying on an airplane. He did, however, fly home twice during the process. Guinness allowed these two flights as long as he flew back to the same international destination to continue the journey (which he did).
Lexie Alford
In the span of two years, Lexie became the youngest person to visit every country in the world at the age of 21 years and 177 days. Her mission was accomplished on October 4, 2019, in Mozambique. She is still the youngest.
Jessica Nabongo
On October 6, 2016, the Detroit native of Ugandan parents became the world’s first black woman to visit every country in the world, ending the journey in Seychelles. Another woman of color named Woni Spotts claims to have done so even earlier, but the claim hasn’t been verified yet.
Taylor Demonbreun
On December 7, 2018, this American woman and Alabama native made it to every country in the world after entering Canada. I guess she saved the easiest for last! Demonbreun visited all 195 nations in only 554 days at the age of 24! At the time, Demonbreun was the fastest to visit every country, topping the previous record of 558 days set by American Cassandra De Pecol earlier that year. Demonbreun was also the youngest to do so at the time.
Anderson Dias
This Brazilian native made it to his 195th country on November 22, 2019, at the age of 26. He accomplished the feat in only 543 days after arriving in Cape Verde, beating the previous record set by Demonbreun by only 11 days.
Harry Mitsidis
Greek native Mitsidis is arguably the most traveled human in the world. Not only has he visited every country, but he’s been sitting atop the leader board on the Most Traveled People website for a long time with visits to 1,394 recognized countries, nations, territories, and states as of early 2025.
Torbjørn C. Pedersen
Danish “Thor” Pedersen set a record at the age of 44 by visiting every country on one continuous, decade-long trip, and he did it without ever flying. Pedersen was trapped in Hong Kong for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his final country was Maldives
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