Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries

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Countries

This page is within the scope of WikiProject Countries, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of countries on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CountriesWikipedia:WikiProject CountriesTemplate:WikiProject Countriescountry

WikiProject Countries to-do list:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Check out the article alerts; see if anything catches your fancy.
Cleanup : clean-up listing for Countries
Stubs : de-stub articles in Category:Stubs by region.
Other : add {{WPCountries}} to talk pages of related articles, and assess.

Archives

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 60 days are automatically archived by if there are more than 4.

Category:Flag template shorthands has an RFC

Category:Flag template shorthands has an RFC for possible consensus. A discussion is taking place. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments on the discussion page. Thank you.

Listing for discussion of Template:Country data Republic of Balochistan

Template:Country data Republic of Balochistan has been listed for discussion, which may result in the template being merged or deleted by consensus. You are invited to comment on the proposed action at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. – MrPersonHumanGuy (talk) 00:25, 4 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 4 March 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Not moved (no consensus). The participants appear to have decided to move forward with another alternative, and discussion has died. No consensus against the move for the record. (non-admin closure) ⹃Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley $\lor$ investigateᛅ} 01:42, 12 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

– Instead of prioritizing one region, I'd use the parent page to make a combined overview that transcludes all the others.

Also, Ukraine is missing on this page, and on the Asia page, the entry for East Timor will need to be updated to match the current title of Timor-Leste. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 10:05, 4 March 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 00:46, 5 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Added a subpage related to this one. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 10:14, 4 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I'd prefer we just create one list rather than fiddling with sevenish individual subpages. CMD (talk) 12:31, 4 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, if anyone else agrees, I'll get to work on that. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 19:00, 6 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I tried this at Draft:WikiProject Countries/Article attributes, and it ran out of time while processing the list. Do you think we should update by bot instead? –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 19:15, 6 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Follow-up

I still want to discuss the new proposal. There are too many countries to build a single list that is auto-loaded using server data. Should we request a bot to handle this data in order to consolidate into one subpage? –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 01:59, 12 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

China superpower status

Should Wikipedia present China as a superpower since the 2020s or should we present an academic debate? See Talk:Superpower#China superpower status Moxy🍁 03:40, 12 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Section renamed to Talk:Superpower#RFC_on_China_superpower_status. –LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 23:25, 12 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move at Talk:The Bahamas#Requested move 19 March 2026

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:The Bahamas#Requested move 19 March 2026 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. ASUKITE 14:39, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The Core Contest returns

The Core Contest—Wikipedia's most exciting contest—returns again this year from April 15 to May 31. The goal: to improve vital or other core articles, with a focus on those in the worst state of disrepair. Editing can be done individually, but in the past groups have also successfully competed. There is £300 of prize money divided among editors who provide the "best additive encyclopedic value".

That cool map on the wikiproject page indicates there are still plenty of C-class countries who could do with some TLC, especially in Africa. Signups are open now —Femke 🐦 (talk) 08:21, 29 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Standardizing opening geographic descriptors for countries

I noticed recently that countries are designated as landlocked, archipelagic, and island in the first sentence. A country's relationship to the ocean is widely acknowledged as critical; however, many countries are missing such a descriptor, as there is no corresponding category that is similarly applied to continental countries with an oceanic coastline.

Reviewing this issue, I find that although 75% of countries have oceanic coastlines, once island countries are removed, this number, only a slim majority (~52%) of countries could are non-island, coastal countries lacking such a description in the opening sentence. It seems appropriate, then, to designate them in a similar fashion. Looking at the UN Convention on Law of Sea, these are designated as Coastal states, although that term seems to lack a precise definition and does not exclude island or archipelagic states. There may be a better definition.

Australia may also be an exception, as it could also be identified as a continental country. I welcome any feedback on how to address that (as well as any other outliers). Brettopia (talk) 02:45, 9 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it is necessary to prescribe a specific descriptor. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:30, 9 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]