The number of countries in the United Nations has grown over the decades,
from 51 States in 1945 to 193 today.
Many more places want to become independent,
but national governments almost always oppose secession.
Catalonia's Parliament declared independence from Spain in October 2017
following a referendum deemed illegal by the central authorities in Madrid.
Spain dismissed the region's government
and decreed that a fresh election should be held.
Catalan politicians leading the independence movement could be jailed for decades if found guilty of rebellion and sedition.
The autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq also held a recent independence referendum,
it outraged the government in Baghdad and neighboring countries, which also have Kurdish minorities.
The Baghdad government claimed the independence referendum was illegal and seized back the lands Kurds had taken beyond their region.
The desire for secession is nothing new,
there are estimated to be more than 8,000 ethno-cultural groups in the world,
with many independence movements demanding their homelands be recognized as countries.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission said that: "If every region had its way the EU would become unmanageable."
So who gets to form a state?
There are no clear international rules.
The 1933 Montevideo Convention
declared that a region needs four things to become a state:
a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.
But these are only guidelines,
ideally, a region would also need other conditions, such as:
show that a clear majority have freely chosen independence,
respect its own minorities, have a viable state and settle terms with the state that leaves and its neighbors.
In practice, all of these conditions are hard to meet.
Taiwan is a modern democratic state in all but international law.
It's an island off the southeastern coast of China which has its own constitution,
functions as an independent state, has democratically elected leaders and was the first place in Asia to rule in favor of gay marriage.
Per head it's around three times richer than mainland China.
But China regards Taiwan as a renegade province,
it insists that no country can have diplomatic ties with both itself and Taiwan.
Only 19 countries, plus the Vatican, officially recognize it.
Somaliland is another region seeking to be recognized as a country,
the semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden
declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
It has its own government, police force and currency,
but no foreign government recognizes it,
perhaps for good reason...
To recognize Somaliland would encourage other separatists in the region,
it would undermine the already weak federal government of Somalia, and it would probably lead to war.
There have only been two major changes to African borders since the 1960s and neither is a success story.
Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
Today, Eritrea has a despotic government and its people are mired in abject poverty.
In 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan, making it the world's newest country.
Soon after South Sudan formed, civil war broke out, displacing 2.2 million people.
Although a ceasefire was signed in 2015, the country lies in ruin, plagued by hyperinflation, famine and violence.
Independence has a romantic ring, many sympathize with the demand for freedom,
but redrawing borders is dangerous and often causes as many problems as it solves.