Countries That No Longer Exist (And What Replaced Them)

Every world map is a snapshot of something temporary. The map your grandparents grew up with had countries that no longer exist; the map of 1990 looked very different from the map of today. Here are the countries that vanished from the world atlas in living memory — and the states that replaced them.

Why countries dissolve

Countries leave the map in three ways. They break apart into smaller successor states, usually under nationalist pressure or after war (Yugoslavia, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Sudan). They merge with another country, voluntarily or by absorption (East Germany into West Germany, North and South Yemen, North and South Vietnam). Or they get conquered and absorbed (Tibet, Sikkim, Crimea — though the latter two are still legally disputed).

Most of the dissolutions on this list happened in a remarkably narrow window: 1989–1993. The end of the Cold War pulled three multinational federations apart almost simultaneously, redrawing the map of Europe and Central Asia in four years.

Yugoslavia (1918–1992; rump until 2003)

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke apart in 1991–1992 in a series of independence declarations and the deadliest European conflict since World War II. The successor states:

• Slovenia — independent June 1991. Minimal violence (the Ten-Day War).
• Croatia — independent June 1991. Long, bitter war until 1995.
• North Macedonia — independent September 1991. Originally just "Macedonia"; renamed in 2019 after a long dispute with Greece.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — independent April 1992. Devastating war until 1995, including the Srebrenica genocide.
• Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia + Montenegro) — continued as a rump state from 1992 to 2003, then renamed "Serbia and Montenegro" until Montenegro voted for independence in 2006.
• Kosovo — declared independence from Serbia in 2008, recognised by about 100 UN members but not by the UN itself.

Yugoslavia's seven successor states are: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo (partially recognised).

The Soviet Union (1922–1991)

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved in December 1991, fracturing into 15 successor states — its 15 constituent republics, all of which became immediately independent:

• Russia (Russian Federation) — the legal continuation of the USSR; took its UN Security Council seat.
• Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova — three Slavic and Romance-speaking republics in the west.
• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — the Baltic three, forcibly annexed in 1940. They were the first to declare independence (1990) and the only ones the West never formally recognised as Soviet territory.
• Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia — the three Caucasus republics.
• Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan — the five Central Asian "Stans."

The dissolution was peaceful at the federal level — there was no Soviet civil war — but several successor states have since fought wars over their internal borders (Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, eastern Ukraine, Transnistria).

Czechoslovakia (1918–1992) — the "Velvet Divorce"

Czechoslovakia split peacefully into Czechia (then called the Czech Republic) and Slovakia on 1 January 1993. The split is often called the "Velvet Divorce" because, unlike the Yugoslav breakup happening at the same time, it was negotiated through parliament with no protests, no referendum, and no violence. Czechs and Slovaks differ in language (mutually intelligible but distinct), economic structure (Czechia more industrialised), and political priorities; Slovak political leaders pushed for independence and the Czechs agreed rather than fight to keep the union together.

East Germany (1949–1990)

The German Democratic Republic (GDR) ceased to exist on 3 October 1990, when its territory was absorbed into the Federal Republic of Germany. The Berlin Wall had fallen on 9 November 1989, eleven months earlier, and the East German government had collapsed shortly after. Reunification was technically a unification rather than a merger of equals — East Germany legally joined West Germany under the existing West German constitution, and the GDR's institutions were dissolved.

Mergers and absorptions

North and South Yemen (until 1990)

North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic) and South Yemen (People's Democratic Republic of Yemen) merged in May 1990 to form the modern Republic of Yemen, with capital Sanaa. The two had different histories — North Yemen was tribal and traditionally Islamic, South Yemen had been a British colony (Aden) and then a Marxist state. The merger was strained from the start and Yemen has been unstable ever since, including the ongoing civil war that has left the country effectively divided again.

North and South Vietnam (until 1976)

North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) were separate states from 1954 to 1976. After North Vietnamese victory in the Vietnam War in 1975, the two were formally unified in July 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with capital Hanoi.

Sikkim (until 1975)

Sikkim was an independent monarchy in the Himalayas from 1642 until 1975, when a referendum (whose legitimacy is disputed) merged it with India. It became India's 22nd state. Sikkim is sometimes used as an example of how a country can disappear quietly — the merger received minimal international attention at the time.

East Pakistan → Bangladesh (1971)

Pakistan was created in 1947 in two non-contiguous halves: West Pakistan and East Pakistan, separated by 1,600 km of India. They had different languages (Urdu vs Bengali) and different cultures, and the East felt politically and economically dominated by the West. East Pakistan declared independence as Bangladesh in 1971 after a brief but devastating war. West Pakistan continues today as Pakistan.

Other 20th-century absorptions

• Tibet — operated as a de facto independent state from 1913 to 1951 with its own government, currency, and foreign policy. Absorbed by China in 1951.
• Tanganyika + Zanzibar → Tanzania — merged in 1964, name a portmanteau.
• United Arab Republic — Egypt and Syria merged 1958–1961, then split. Egypt kept the name "United Arab Republic" until 1971.
• Eritrea — federated with Ethiopia 1952, annexed 1962, gained independence 1993 after a 30-year war.

The big pre-1945 dissolutions

Three empires collapsed in the early 20th century and left dozens of successor states:

• Austro-Hungarian Empire (until 1918) — broke into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania (which absorbed Transylvania), and Poland.
• Ottoman Empire (until 1923) — became Turkey, plus what would later become Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel/Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and several others.
• British India (until 1947) — partitioned into India and Pakistan; Pakistan later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh (1971).

The Russian Empire's collapse in 1917 led to the USSR, which itself collapsed in 1991 — so its territories changed hands twice within a single century.

The "you've heard of it but it's not a country" trap

• England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland — constituent countries within the United Kingdom, not sovereign.
• Greenland, Faroe Islands — autonomous parts of the Kingdom of Denmark.
• Hong Kong, Macau — special administrative regions of China.
• Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands — US territories.
• Catalonia, Basque Country — autonomous communities of Spain that have voted on independence but have not achieved it.
• Tibet, Xinjiang — autonomous regions of China.
• Quebec — Canadian province; held two referendums on independence (1980, 1995), both lost.

The newest countries

The opposite list — countries that started existing recently:

• South Sudan — independent 2011 (split from Sudan).
• Montenegro — independent 2006 (split from Serbia).
• Kosovo — declared independence 2008 (partial recognition).
• East Timor (Timor-Leste) — independent 2002 (from Indonesia).
• Eritrea — independent 1993 (from Ethiopia).
• Czechia and Slovakia — independent 1993 (split from Czechoslovakia).
• 15 USSR successors — independent late 1991.
• Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, North Macedonia — independent 1991–1992.

The list of "new countries" has been almost entirely empty for the past decade. The next addition to the world map is unpredictable; the most-discussed candidates are Catalonia (Spain), Scotland (UK), Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), and Somaliland (already de facto independent from Somalia).