Non-Self-Governing Territories [NSGT]

When the United Nations was established in 1945, 750 million people – almost a third of the world’s population – lived in territories that were non-self-governing, dependent on colonial Powers. Today, fewer than 2 million people live in what the UN terms Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs). The General Assembly adopted, in 1960, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Known as the Declaration on decolonization, it stated that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end. In 1962 the General Assembly established the Special Committee on Decolonization to monitor implementation of the Declaration and to make recommendations on its application.

TERRITORY	LISTED AS NSGT	ADMIN POWER	LAND AREA (sq.km.)1	PEOPLE1
AFRICA
Western Sahara	Since 1963	2	266,000	586,000
ATLANTIC AND CARIBBEAN
Anguilla	Since 1946	UK	96	15,700
Bermuda	Since 1946	UK	53.35	65,187
British Virgin Islands	Since 1946	UK	153	28,200
Cayman Islands	Since 1946	UK	264	58,238
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)3	Since 1946	UK	12,173	2,500
Montserrat	Since 1946	UK	103	5,000
Saint Helena	Since 1946	UK	310	5,765
Turks and Caicos Is.	Since 1946	UK	948.2	36,689
USA Virgin Islands	Since 1946	USA	352	105,080
EUROPE
Gibraltar	Since 1946	UK	5.8	33,140
PACIFIC
American Samoa	Since 1946	USA	200	55,170
French Polynesia	1946-7 & since 2013	France	3,600	271,800
Guam	Since 1946	USA	540	159,358
New Caledonia	1946-7 & since 1986	France	18,575	268,767
Pitcairn	Since 1946	UK	35.5	39
Tokelau	Since 1946	New Zealand	12.2	1,411

1. All data is from United Nations Secretariat 2016 Working Papers on Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs), and for Western Sahara, from UNdata (data.un.org), a database by the United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.

2. On 26 February 1976, Spain informed the Secretary-General that as of that date it had terminated its presence in the Territory of the Sahara and deemed it necessary to place on record that Spain considered itself thenceforth exempt from any responsibility of any international nature in connection with the administration of the Territory, in view of the cessation of its participation in the temporary administration established for the Territory. In 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara.

3. A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (see ST/CS/SER.A/42).

Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty

Short-form name	Long-form name	Sovereign	FIPS Code (note 1)	Administrative Center
Akrotiri (note 15)	Akrotiri	UK	AX	Episkopi (note 16)
American Samoa	Territory of American Samoa	USA	AQ	Pago Pago
Anguilla	Anguilla	UK	AV	The Valley
Antarctica	(no long-form name)	None (note 2)	AY	None
Aruba	(no long-form name)	Netherlands	AA	Oranjestad
Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Australia	AT	Administered from Canberra
Baker Island	(no long-form name)	USA	FQ	Washington, DC
Bermuda	Bermuda	UK	BD	Hamilton
Bouvet Island	(no long-form name)	Norway	BV	Admin. from Oslo
British Indian Ocean Territory (note 3)	British Indian Ocean Territory	UK	IO	None
Cayman Islands	Cayman Islands	UK	CJ	George Town
Christmas Island	Territory of Christmas Island	Australia	KT	The Settlement (Flying Fish Cove)
Clipperton Island	(no long-form name)	France	IP	Administered from Paris
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Australia	CK	West Island
Cook Islands	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	CW	Avarua
Coral Sea Islands	Coral Sea Islands Territory	Australia	CR	Administered from Canberra
Curaçao (note 11)	(no long-form name)	Netherlands	UC	Willemstad
Dhekelia (note 15)	Dhekelia	UK	DX	Episkopi (note 16)
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	UK (note 4)	FK	Stanley
Faroe Islands	(no long-form name)	Denmark	FO	Tórshavn
French Guiana (note 5)
French Polynesia	(no long-form name)	France	FP	Papeete
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (note 6)	(no long-form name)	France	FS	Administered from Paris
Gibraltar	Gibraltar	UK	GI	Gibraltar
Greenland	(no long-form name)	Denmark	GL	Nuuk (Godthåb)
Guadeloupe (note 5)
Guam	Territory of Guam	USA	GQ	Hagatna
Guernsey (note 7)	Bailiwick of Guernsey	UK	GK	Saint Peter Port
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands	Australia	HM	Administered from Canberra
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	China (note 8)	HK	None
Howland Island	(no long-form name)	USA	HQ	Washington, DC
Isle of Man	(no long-form name)	British Crown Dependency	IM	Douglas
Jan Mayen	(no long-form name)	Norway	JN	Administered from Oslo (note 9)
Jarvis Island	(no long-form name)	USA	DQ	Washington, DC
Jersey	Bailiwick of Jersey	UK	JE	Saint Helier
Johnston Atoll	(no long-form name)	USA	JQ	Washington, DC
Kingman Reef	(no long-form name)	USA	KQ	Washington, DC
Macau	Macau Special Administrative Region	China (note 10)	MC	Macau
Martinique (note 5)
Mayotte (note 5)
Midway Islands	(no long-form name)	USA	MQ	Washington, DC
Montserrat	Montserrat	UK	MH	Plymouth
Navassa Island	(no long-form name)	USA	BQ	Washington, DC
New Caledonia	(no long-form name)	France	NC	Nouméa
Niue	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	NE	Alofi
Norfolk Island	Territory of Norfolk Island	Australia	NF	Kingston
Northern Mariana Islands	Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands	USA	CQ	Saipan
Palmyra Atoll	(no long-form name)	USA	LQ	Washington, DC
Paracel Islands	(no long-form name)	TBD (note 12)	PF	None
Pitcairn Islands	Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands	UK	PC	Adamstown
Puerto Rico	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico	USA	RQ	San Juan
Reunion (note 5)
Saint Barthelemy	Saint Barthelemy	France	TB	Gustavia
Saint Helena (note 13)	Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	UK	SH	Jamestown
Saint Martin (note 17)	Saint Martin	France	RN	Marigot
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon	France	SB	Saint-Pierre
Sint Maarten (note 11)	(no long-form name)	Netherlands	NN	Philipsburg
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	UK (note 4)	SX	None
Spratly Islands	(no long-form name)	TBD (note 14)	PG	None
Svalbard	(no long-form name)	Norway	SV	Longyearbyen
Tokelau	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	TL	None
Turks and Caicos Islands	Turks and Caicos Islands	UK	TK	Grand Turk
Virgin Islands, British	Virgin Islands, British	UK	VI	Road Town
Virgin Islands, U.S.	USA Virgin Islands	USA	VQ	Charlotte Amalie
Wake Island	(no long-form name)	USA	WQ	Washington, DC
Wallis and Futuna	(no long-form name)	France	WF	Matâ'utu
Western Sahara	(no long-form name)	To be determined	WI	None

NOTES

Note 1: Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 codes. On September 2, 2008 the National Institute of Standards and Technology withdrew FIPS 10-4 as a USA Government standard. No successor standard for country codes has been identified.

Note 2: Antarctica consists of the territory south of 60 degrees south latitude.   This area includes claims by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New
Zealand, Norway, and the UK, the legal status of which remains in suspense under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.   The USA recognizes no claims to Antarctica.

Note 3: Chagos Archipelago (including Diego Garcia).

Note 4: U.K. Overseas Territory (also claimed by Argentina).

Note 5: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion are departments (first-order administrative units) of France, and are therefore not dependencies or areas of special sovereignty. They are included in this list only for the convenience of the user. The Department of Guadeloupe includes the nearby islands of Marie-Galante, La Desirade, and Iles des Saintes.

Note 6: The French Southern and Antarctic Lands includes Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul, Îles Crozet, and Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean; the "Iles Eparses" (Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island and Tromelin Island) in the Mozambique Channel and western Indian Ocean; and the French-claimed sector of Antarctica, "Terre Adélie." The USA does not recognize the French claim to "Terre Adélie" (note 2).

Note 7: The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and nearby smaller islands.

Note 8: Under a Sino-British declaration of September 1984, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control on July 1, 1997. It is now a semi-autonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 9: Administered from Oslo, Norway, through a governor resident in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

Note 10: Under the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau signed in 1987, Macau reverted to Chinese control on December 20, 1999.   It is now a semi-autonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 11: The Netherlands Antilles dissolved on October 10, 2010. Curaçao and Sint Maarten (the Dutch two-fifths of the island of Saint Martin) became autonomous territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius now fall under the direct administration of the Netherlands.

Note 12: South China Sea islands occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam.

Note 13: The territory of Saint Helena includes the Island group of Tristan da Cunha; Saint Helena also administers Ascension Island.

Note 14: South China Sea islands claimed in entirety by China and Vietnam and in part by the Philippines and Malaysia; each of these states occupies some part of the islands.

Note 15: UK sovereign base area on the island of Cyprus.

Note 16: The joint force headquarters, under the Commander of the British Forces Cyprus, administers both sovereign base areas from Episkopi.

Note 17: The island of Saint Martin is divided: the northern three-fifths form the French collectivity of Saint-Martin, while the southern two-fifths (Sint Maarten) is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Source: Office of The Geographer and Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC.