Countries That Start With B

Sovereign countries (17)

Seventeen sovereign UN member states have English names beginning with B. The list spans every inhabited continent except Antarctica: tiny Caribbean islands like Barbados and the Bahamas, European states like Belgium and Bulgaria, the Asian giant of Bangladesh, the South American powerhouse of Brazil, and a deep bench of African nations from Benin to Burundi. A handful of inhabited territories and dependencies also begin with B and are listed in their own section. The sovereign-nation count is fixed at seventeen.

A few of the most distinctive members of this group: Brazil is the fifth-largest country on Earth by area and the seventh-most populous, the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas. Bhutan, tucked into the eastern Himalayas, famously measures national progress through Gross National Happiness rather than gross domestic product alone. And Burkina Faso, in West Africa, took its current name in 1984 when President Thomas Sankara renamed the former Upper Volta — the new name combines two indigenous languages and translates roughly as "Land of Honest Men" or "Land of Upright People."

Bahamas

Nassau · The Caribbean

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Bahrain

Manama · Middle East

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Bangladesh

Dhaka · Asia

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Barbados

Bridgetown · The Caribbean

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Belarus

Minsk · Europe

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Belgium

Brussels · Europe

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Belize

Belmopan · Central America

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Benin

Porto-Novo · Africa

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Bhutan

Thimphu · Asia

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Bolivia

Sucre · South America

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Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo · Europe

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Botswana

Gaborone · Africa

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Brazil

Brasília · South America

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Brunei

Bandar Seri Begawan · Asia

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Bulgaria

Sofia · Europe

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Burkina Faso

Ouagadougou · Africa

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Burundi

Gitega · Africa

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Territories and dependencies (3)

Inhabited territories, dependencies, and special administrative areas whose English names also begin with B. These are not sovereign UN member states but have their own administrative status under a parent country.

Bermuda

British Overseas Territory

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British Indian Ocean Territory

British Overseas Territory

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British Virgin Islands

British Overseas Territory

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Related letter lookups

Browsing the alphabet is a popular way to teach geography. Try the neighbouring letters:

• Countries That Start With A — Eleven nations from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan, plus Antarctica.
• Countries That Start With C — Eighteen nations including Canada, China, and Colombia.
• Countries That Start With S — The most-populated letter, with around two dozen nations from Samoa to Switzerland.

Quick answer for skimmers

Q: How many countries start with B?
A: Seventeen sovereign UN member states. Several inhabited territories and dependencies (Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, and the British Virgin Islands) also begin with B.

Q: Is Burma the same as Myanmar?
A: Yes. The country was officially renamed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989 by its ruling military government. CountryReports lists the country under M for Myanmar, following current United Nations usage.

Q: What about the Balkans?
A: The Balkans is a region of southeastern Europe, not a country. The region includes several B-letter nations — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria — alongside neighbours like Albania, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Country profiles mentioned in this post:

Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi