This is a list of sovereign states in the 1970s, giving an overview of states around the world during the period between 1 January 1970 and 31 December 1979. It contains 191 entries, arranged alphabetically, with information on the status and

recognition Recognition may refer to: *Award, something given in recognition of an achievement Machine learning *Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below Biometric * Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...

of their

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

. It includes 166 widely-recognized sovereign states (including 4 associated states that gained full independence, 4 states which were initially unrecognized but then gained full recognition later in the decade, and 1 state which was initially widely-recognized but then lost full recognition later in the decade), 2 constituent republics of another sovereign state that were UN members on their own right, 12 entities which claim an effective sovereignty but are considered ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' dependencies of other powers by the general international community, 4 associated states, and 7 transitional states.

Sovereign states

Other entities

Excluded from the list above are the following noteworthy entities which either were not fully sovereign or did not claim to be independent: *

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

as a whole had no government and no permanent population. Seven states claimed portions of Antarctica and five of these had reciprocally recognised one another's claims. "Australia, New Zealand, France, Norway and the United Kingdom reciprocally recognize the validity of each other's claims." These claims, which were regulated by the Antarctic Treaty System, were neither recognised nor disputed by any other signatory state.CIA – the World Factbook – Antarctica
– accessed 19 January 2008 *

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

was occupied and administered by the Soviet Union, but the legality of the annexation was not widely-recognized. The Baltic diplomatic services in the West continued to be recognised as representing the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' state. * was occupied and administered by the Soviet Union, but the legality of the annexation was not widely-recognized. The Baltic diplomatic services in the West continued to be recognised as representing the ''

'' state. * The Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone was a strip of neutral territory between

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. * The

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

was an entity claiming sovereignty. The order had bi-lateral diplomatic relations with a large number of states, but had no territory other than

extraterritorial In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...

areas within Rome. The order's Constitution stated: "The Order is a subject of international law and exercises sovereign functions." Although the order frequently asserted its sovereignty, it did not claim to be a sovereign state. It lacked a defined territory. Since all its members were citizens of other states, almost all of them lived in their native countries, and those who resided in the order's extraterritorial properties in Rome did so only in connection with their official duties, the order lacked the characteristic of having a permanent population. *

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

was a political enclave that was closely aligned with, but not actually a part of,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. It consisted of three occupied sectors administered by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sovereign states in the 1970s 1970-1979 1970s politics-related lists 1970 in international relations 1971 in international relations 1972 in international relations 1973 in international relations 1974 in international relations 1975 in international relations 1976 in international relations 1977 in international relations 1978 in international relations 1979 in international relations

Sovereign states

Other entities

See also

Notes

References