(see UN website: http://www.un.org)

How many countries are there?

The Common Ground World Project includes earth from all 188 countries that were member states of the UN at the turn of the millennium. Tuvalu, a small Pacific Island nation became a member in 2001. Most recently in 2002 Switzerland and East Timor became members for a grand total of 191 member states. Now only the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Vatican are not members.

Students Collecting Clay in Tanzania

"Many of the people that collected clay have maintained their traditonal identity with great pride and yet they are eager to be a part of the world at large and feel like they are engaged and connected to the bigger picture of all people."    Neil Tetkowski

LIST OF UNITED NATIONS MEMBER STATES

(official order as of the year 2000)

1. Afghanistan

2. Albania

3. Algeria

4. Andorra

5. Angola

6. Antigua and Barbuda

7. Argentina

8. Armenia

9. Australia

10. Austria

11. Azerbaijan

12. Bahamas

13. Bahrain

14. Bangladesh

15. Barbados

16. Belarus

17. Belgium

18. Belize

19. Benin

20. Bhutan

21. Bolivia

22. Bosnia and Herzegovina

23. Botswana

24. Brazil

25. Brunei Darussalam

26. Bulgaria

27. Burkina Faso

28. Burundi

29. Cambodia

30. Cameroon

31. Canada

32. Cape Verde

33. Central African Republic

34. Chad

35. Chile

36. China

37. Colombia

38. Comoros

39. Congo, Republic of

40. Costa Rica

41. C™te d'Ivoire

42. Croatia

43. Cuba

44. Cyprus

45. Czech Republic

46. DPR Korea

47. Democratic Republic of Congo

48. Denmark

49. Djibouti

50.Dominica

51. Dominican Republic

52. Ecuador

53. Egypt

54. El Salvador

55. Equatorial Guinea

56. Eritrea

57. Estonia

58. Ethiopia

59. Fiji

60. Finland

61. France

62. Gabon

63. Gambia

64. Georgia

65. Germany

66. Ghana

67. Greece

68. Grenada

69. Guatemala

70. Guinea

71. Guinea-Bissau

72. Guyana

73. Haiti

74. Honduras

75. Hungary

76. Iceland

77. India

78. Indonesia

79. Iran

80. Iraq

81. Ireland

82. Israel

83. Italy

84. Jamaica

85. Japan

86. Jordan

87. Kazakhstan

88. Kenya

89. Kiribati

90. Kuwait

91. Kyrgyzstan

92. Lao, People's Democratic Republic

93. Latvia

94. Lebanon

95. Lesotho

96. Liberia

97. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

98. Liechtenstein

99. Lithuania

100. Luxembourg

101. Madagascar

102. Malawi

103. Malaysia

104. Maldives

105. Mali

106. Malta

107. Marshall Islands

108. Mauritania

109. Mauritius

110. Mexico

111. Micronesia

112. Monaco

113. Mongolia

114. Morocco

115. Mozambique

116. Myanmar

117. Namibia

118. Nauru

119. Nepal

120. Netherlands

121. New Zealand

122. Nicaragua

123. Nigeria

124. Niger

125. Norway

126. Oman

127. Pakistan

128. Palau

129. Panama

130. Papua New Guinea

131. Paraguay

132. Peru

133. Philippines

134. Poland

135. Portugal

136. Qatar

137. Republic of Korea

138. Republic of Moldova

139. Romania

140. Russian Federation

141. Rwanda

142. St Kitts and Nevis

143. St. Lucia

144. St. Vincent and the Grenadines

145. Samoa

146. San Marino

147. Sao Tome and Principe

148. Saudi Arabia

149. Senegal

150. Seychelles

151. Sierra Leone

152. Singapore

153. Slovakia

154. Slovenia

155. Solomon Islands

156. Somalia

157. South Africa

158. Spain

159. Sri Lanka

160. Sudan

161. Suriname

162. Swaziland

163. Sweden

164. Syrian Arab Republic

165. Tajikistan

166. Thailand

167. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

168. Togo

169. Tonga

170. Trinidad and Tobago

171. Tunisia

172. Turkey

173. Turkmenistan

174. Uganda

175. Ukraine

176. United Arab Emirates

177. United Kingdom

178. United Republic of Tanzania

179. United States of America

180. Uruguay

181. Uzbekistan

182. Vanuatu

183. Venezuela

184. Viet Nam

185. Yemen

186. Yugoslavia

187. Zambia

188. Zimbabwe

Neil Tetkowski ouside his studio on West 19th Street in New York City, holding clay from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Often people ask if I went to all these countries myself. Even if a person had a huge budget, you would need to travel to a different country every other day for a year. With all the help we could possibly enlist it still took us 18 months to collect all the earth samples. Nauru was the last package to come in. A few samples were received via diplomatic sources, but most were collected by interested people from all walks of life who wanted to be a part of this project, including an ambassador, business people, artists and several barefoot children.

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