Definitions of world regions
Which countries make up the world regions commonly used in our charts?
Many of our charts show data grouped by world regions — like Africa, Asia, or Europe. But different sources define these regions in different ways. For clarity, this page shows how we define regional groupings on our site, and how those definitions compare to others you might come across, such as those from the World Bank, WHO, or the UN.
Below, you’ll find maps and downloadable CSVs listing which countries belong to each region under each classification.
If you’re looking at a chart on Our World in Data and see a region labeled simply as “Asia” or “Europe”, that means it’s using our definitions. If you see a source noted in brackets (e.g., “East Asia and Pacific (WB)”), it’s using that source’s regional scheme.
How to download country-to-region mappings
For each map, you can download the country-to-region mapping as a CSV: Click “Download” → “Data” → “Download full data”.
Our World in Data
Our team defines six world regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. This map shows how they are defined.
When using charts on our website, if you see these regions listed simply with these names, and without any institution acronym in brackets, these are the groupings applied.
World Bank (WB)
The World Bank defines seven world regions: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This map shows how they are defined.
When used in charts on our website, these regions will be listed as “[region] (WB)”, for example, “East Asia and Pacific (WB)”.
Source: worldbank.org
World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP)
The World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform defines seven world regions: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Other high-income countries, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This map shows how they are defined.
When used in charts on our website, these regions will be listed as “[region] (PIP)”, for example, “East Asia and Pacific (PIP)”.
Source: worldbank.org
World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Health Organization defines six world regions: Africa, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific. This map shows how they are defined.
When used in charts on our website, these regions will be listed as “[region] (WHO)”, for example, “Africa (WHO)”.
Source: who.int
Maddison Project Database (MPD)
The Maddison Project Database defines eight world regions: East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, South and South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe, and Western offshoots. This map shows how they are defined.
When used in charts on our website, these regions will be listed as “[region] (MPD)”, for example, “East Asia (MPD)”.
Source: rug.nl
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG)
When reporting data on the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations defines eight world regions: Australia and New Zealand, Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Europe and Northern America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern Africa and Western Asia, Oceania, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This map shows how they are defined.
When used in charts on our website, these regions will be listed as “[region] (UN SDG)”, for example, “Central and Southern Asia (UN SDG)”.
Source: un.org
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