On the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea lie the coastlines of three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This trio, known as the Baltics, has a similar history, geography, and economy — despite each having its own unique culture and language. The Baltics are all former Soviet states; all members of the EU, NATO, and the Eurozone; and all rank as having some of the world's highest quality of life.

In 1951, six countries founded the European Coal and Steel Community, which later evolved into the European Union. Since then, the economic and political partnership has grown to include 27 total European countries. In 2013, it added its most recent member, Croatia, which became the second former Yugoslav Republic to join. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia have all applied to join the EU since 2004 and their negotiations are still ongoing.

Upon the foundation of the United Nations, five countries were selected to be permanent members of the body's most powerful organ, the security council. Those five, who rose to their positions out of the destruction of World War II, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ten other countries serve on the security council on a non-permanent, rotating basis, but only the “P5,” as they're called, have the critical power of veto.

Benelux is a political and economic union between the countries Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg — each of which lends its first few letters to the union's name. The small nations north of France and west of Germany officially formed their trade alliance in 1958, with the signing of the Treaty of the Benelux Economic Union. This document made Benelux the first completely free international labor market and just 12 years later, border controls between the nations were abolished.

The word "Maghreb" literally means "west" in Arabic, and since the Maghreb is located west of the Arabian Peninsula, the name is appropriate. The modern region of the Maghreb is an area in northwestern Africa consisting of Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, primarily. The area lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the vast sands of the Sahara to the south and has formerly been known as the Barbary Coast.

Between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea lies Europe's Balkan Peninsula, a landmass home to a variety of countries collectively known as "the Balkans." Not everyone agrees on the borders of the region, but 11 countries have all or part of their territory on the peninsula, including North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Albania. Greece and Turkey also have territory on the Baltic Peninsula, but are generally considered to be politically and culturally different entities.

Since the 1960s, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have been collectively known as the "Four Asian Tigers," referencing their high-growth economies. Although the "Tigers" are all geographically small, each maintains one of the wealthiest economies in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong and Singapore are some of the most impactful global financial centers and South Korea and Taiwan's economies are critical in the world's technology sector.

The Arab League was founded as a loose confederation of states that wanted to promote the movement of Pan-Arabism in 1945. Today, the league has 22 members, stretching from Iraq all the way across northern Africa to Mauritania. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Somalia, Jordan, and Lebanon are all members of the league, whose main goal is to "draw closer relations between the member states and coordinate collaboration between them." Iran is currently not a member, though it does border some member states to the west.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The group, which is a political and economic union of 10 member states in the region, was founded in 1967 by the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, ASEAN has added Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam to its list of members, promoting trade and economic cooperation in the region.

Scandinavia generally consists of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The three countries were historically part of the region of Scandia, from which they take their name. Sometimes the area is referenced with the inclusion of Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, but that larger group is generally referred to as the Nordic countries.