the united nations and uk government says that the united kingdom is officially made up of 2 countries (england and scotland), one principality (wales) and one province (northern ireland). however, wales has not formally been a principality since the 16th century with the . in 2011 the international organization for standards wales the status of country to clear ambiguity and avoid further confusion, thus the first statement may be corrected to 3 countries and 1 province.