Countries That Start With J

Sovereign countries (3)

Three sovereign UN member states have English names beginning with J, and they are scattered across three different continents. Jamaica sits in the Caribbean, Japan anchors the eastern edge of Asia, and Jordan occupies a key stretch of the Levant. There is also one Crown Dependency, Jersey, listed below in its own section. The total varies by which list you consult, but the sovereign-nation answer is fixed at three.

Jamaica

Kingston · The Caribbean

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Japan

Tokyo · East Asia

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Jordan

Amman · Middle East

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Territories and other entities (1)

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

Jersey

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 I — Six nations from Iceland to Italy.
Countries That Start With K — Five nations including Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Kuwait.
Countries That Start With O — Just one country — Oman.

Quick answer for skimmers

Q: How many countries start with J?
A: Three sovereign UN member states — Jamaica, Japan, and Jordan. The Crown Dependency of Jersey also begins with J, but it is not a sovereign nation.

Q: Is Jersey part of England?
A: No. Jersey is a Crown Dependency, self-governing under the British Crown but not part of the United Kingdom. It has its own legislature, legal system, and tax regime, and the UK government handles only its defence and most international relations.

Q: Why does Japan use "Nippon" sometimes?
A: Nippon and Nihon are the country’s names in Japanese, both written with the same characters (日本) meaning "origin of the sun." "Japan" is the English exonym, which travelled west through Portuguese traders and earlier Chinese readings of those same characters.

Country profiles mentioned in this post: