Countries That Start With I

Sovereign countries (8)

Eight sovereign UN member states have English names beginning with I. The list ranges from Iceland, a North Atlantic island of roughly four hundred thousand people, to India, the most populous nation on Earth. One inhabited Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man, also begins with I and is listed below in its own section.

Iceland

Reykjavik · Europe

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India

New Delhi · Asia

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Indonesia

Jakarta · Asia

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Iran

Tehran · Middle East

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Iraq

Baghdad · Middle East

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Ireland

Dublin · Europe

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Israel

Jerusalem · Middle East

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Italy

Rome · Europe

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Territories and other entities (1)

One inhabited Crown Dependency whose English name also begins with I. It is not a sovereign UN member state but has its own administrative status.

Isle of Man

Self-governing UK Crown Dependency

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

Countries That Start With H — Three nations — Haiti, Honduras, and Hungary.
Countries That Start With J — Three nations — Jamaica, Japan, and Jordan.
Countries That Start With A — Eleven nations from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan.

Quick answer for skimmers

Q: How many countries start with I?
A: Eight sovereign UN member states — Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, and Italy. The Isle of Man, a self-governing UK Crown Dependency, also begins with I but is not a sovereign nation.

Q: Is the Isle of Man part of the United Kingdom?
A: No. The Isle of Man is a self-governing Crown Dependency. It is not part of the United Kingdom and is not a UN member state, but the British Crown is responsible for its defence and foreign relations.

Q: What is the difference between Iran and Iraq?
A: They are two distinct neighbouring countries with different official languages and political systems. Iran is a Persian-speaking Islamic republic; Iraq is an Arabic-speaking parliamentary republic. The two nations fought a long, devastating war in the nineteen-eighties and remain separate states with very different histories.

Country profiles mentioned in this post: