Q: Under International Law 101, statehood is determined, in part, by the diplomatic recognition of other states. In most cases, there exists a well established global consensus on whether any particularly entity is or is not a state, but there are exceptions. What are the seven United Nations member states that are not recognized by at least one other U.N. member state?

A: Cyprus, Armenia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, North Korea, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Cyprus is not recognized by Turkey.

Armenia is not recognized by Pakistan.

Israel is not recognized by 20 states, though an additional 16 refuse to have diplomatic relations with it.

Liechtenstein is not recognized by Slovakia due to a dispute over expropriations dating back to WWII. Until July of this year, it was also not recognized by the Czech Republic.

Slovakia: See above. Liechtenstein continues to not recognize Slovakia, though it now recognizes the Czech Republic.

North Korea is not recognized by France or Estonia.

China (PRC) is not recognized by the 23 states that instead recognize the Republic of China (ROC), otherwise known as Taiwan.

-Susan