Dependent and Autonomous Territories: Who Governs What

Beelad covers 196 countries, but dozens of inhabited places are not sovereign and still run much of their own affairs. Greenland makes its own mining law, Hong Kong issues its own passports, and Jersey sets its own taxes. None of them has a seat at the United Nations. This guide sorts these places into the categories their governments actually use, explains which ones the UN still treats as colonies, and looks at the cases that changed most recently.

Two lists that are often confused

The first list is the UN's. Under Chapter XI of the UN Charter, countries that administer a territory "whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government" must report on it. The first list, in 1946, had 72 territories. As of 2026 it has 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs), home to nearly two million people, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres in February 2026. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization, known as the C-24, reviews them every year. The last territory removed was East Timor, which became independent as Timor-Leste in 2002.

The second list is much longer and has no official form: every place with its own legislature or special status inside a larger state. Many well-known autonomous places are not on the UN list, either because they were removed after a vote or because they never counted as colonies. Puerto Rico was removed in 1953. Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Hong Kong, Macau, Åland and the Crown Dependencies are not on it.

The main categories

• Overseas territory: the UK's 14 British Overseas Territories, from Bermuda to Pitcairn. Each has its own constitution and usually its own elected government, while the UK keeps defense and foreign affairs.
• Crown Dependency: Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. They are not part of the UK and have never been UK colonies. They belong to the Crown, make their own laws and set their own taxes.
• Overseas department or collectivity: France's five overseas regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte) are fully part of France and the EU. Overseas collectivities such as French Polynesia have more autonomy, and New Caledonia has a status of its own.
• Unincorporated territory: US territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam, where Congress decides which parts of the US Constitution apply.
• Constituent country: Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, each with its own government.
• Free association: the Cook Islands and Niue govern themselves fully but share citizenship with New Zealand, which helps with defense and foreign affairs when asked.
• Special administrative region and autonomous region: China's Hong Kong and Macau, Finland's Åland, and Denmark's Greenland and Faroe Islands.

Status of selected territories

Beelad has no pages for territories, so for currency, calling code and language details you will need the territory's own government site. You can open the sovereign states: Denmark, United Kingdom, France, China and Finland.

Greenland: self-rule, step by step

Greenland got home rule in 1979 and left the European Community in 1985, after a 1982 referendum. The Act on Greenland Self-Government came into force on 21 June 2009 and recognizes Greenlanders as a people under international law. It lets Greenland take over most areas of government, either when it chooses or after negotiation with Denmark. Denmark is a unitary state, so fields that are not transferred stay with the Danish government and parliament, not with a federal level.

Of the fields listed in the 2009 Act, Greenland took over mineral resources and the offshore working environment on 1 January 2010, the setting of official time on 25 March 2023 (under a 2022 law) and the flag area on 13 January 2026. The onshore working environment is still a field it can take over later. Police, prosecution, courts, prisons, immigration and passports are all still Danish as of autumn 2026. Five fields can never be transferred: the constitution, nationality, the Supreme Court, foreign, defense and security policy, and exchange-rate and monetary policy. If Greenlanders choose independence, the Act provides for negotiations; any agreement needs the consent of Greenland's parliament (Inatsisartut), a referendum in Greenland and the consent of the Danish parliament.

Gibraltar: the 2026 treaty

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory on the UN list, and Spain has long claimed it. After Brexit, its land border with Spain became an external EU border with passport checks. The UK–EU treaty on Gibraltar was signed in Brussels on 14 July 2026. From 15 July 2026, routine checks at the land border ended and the border fence started coming down. The main changes:

• Schengen entry and exit checks now happen at Gibraltar's airport and port, carried out in sequence: on arrival Gibraltar's own immigration officers check first and Spanish officers second, under Schengen rules; on departure the order is reversed.
• A bespoke customs arrangement removes duties and quotas on goods moving between Gibraltar and the EU. In return Gibraltar has a new transaction tax on goods, starting at 15% and rising to 17% by 2028, with 5% and zero rates for some goods.
• A safeguard clause says nothing in the treaty affects sovereignty, which protects both the UK's and Spain's legal positions. Gibraltar stays a British Overseas Territory.
• The treaty applies provisionally while UK and EU ratification is completed.

The Gibraltar government warned on 22 July 2026 that the treaty does not create a right to enter Spain or Schengen through Gibraltar: visa-required travelers still need a visa. According to UK travel advice, British visitors pass both Gibraltar and Spanish (Schengen) checks at the airport, including registration in the EU Entry/Exit System where it applies, and time in Gibraltar counts toward the Schengen limit of 90 days in any 180.

Other cases worth knowing

Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong returned to China on 1 July 1997 and Macau on 20 December 1999. Under "one country, two systems", each Basic Law promises that the region's own system will stay unchanged for 50 years, until 2047 for Hong Kong and 2049 for Macau. Each has its own currency, customs territory and immigration controls, so travelers pass through checks between them and mainland China. A special administrative region has no capital; Hong Kong's government sits at Tamar, in Admiralty.

Faroe Islands and Åland

The Faroe Islands have had home rule since 1948 and, like Greenland, are outside the EU. Åland, a Swedish-speaking group of islands between Finland and Sweden, has been autonomous since the 1920s and is demilitarized and neutral. It joined the EU with Finland in 1995 but stays outside the EU VAT area, which is why ferries between Finland and Sweden can sell tax-free goods by stopping there.

Puerto Rico and New Caledonia

Puerto Ricans have been US citizens since 1917, but residents of the island cannot vote in presidential elections and are represented in Congress by a non-voting member. New Caledonia rejected independence in referendums in 2018, 2020 and 2021. A 2025 plan for a "State of New Caledonia" within France, the Bougival agreement, stalled when the French National Assembly rejected the constitutional bill on 2 April 2026. Provincial elections on 28 June 2026, held on an expanded electoral roll, left no bloc with a majority in the 54-seat Congress; pro-France parties won 24 seats.

The short version

• The UN lists 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories, 10 of them British. Puerto Rico, Greenland and Hong Kong are not among them.
• "Autonomous" covers very different arrangements, from free association (Cook Islands) to special administrative regions (Hong Kong).
• Most territory residents hold the sovereign state's passport. Hong Kong and Macau are the main exceptions.
• Greenland controls its mineral resources but not yet its police, courts or borders, and can never take over defense, foreign or monetary policy under the 2009 Act.
• Since 15 July 2026, Gibraltar's border checks happen at its airport and port rather than at the land border with Spain.
• For places that are fully independent but surrounded by others, see enclaves and exclaves; for the newest sovereign states, see the newest countries in the world.