Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands is a territory of the United States, in Micronesia. UN Tourism counted 487,000 international arrivals there in 2019, rarer than 77% of the 199 places with figures, so its stamp in Globestamp is printed in Prism.
- International arrivals
- 487,000in 2019, UN Tourism
- Rank by visitors
- 153rd of 199most visited first
- Stamp finish
- Prismrarer than 77%
- Area
- 581 km² (224 sq mi)
- Population
- 57,000Natural Earth estimate
- Regions
- 4in Globestamp’s regions layer
- Airports
- 3with scheduled flights
Does the Northern Mariana Islands count as a country?
It depends on the list. The Northern Mariana Islands is a territory of the United States, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian)”.
| List | Counts the Northern Mariana Islands? |
|---|---|
| UN member states (193) | No |
| Globestamp’s countries and territories (250) | Yes |
| Travelers’ Century Club (330) | Yes, as Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian) |
| European Union | No |
| Schengen area | No |
The Northern Mariana Islands belongs to the United States, but travelers usually count it on its own, because it has its own entry rules, its own flag or its own place on the map. Other places in the same family: American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, United States Minor Outlying Islands and United States Virgin Islands.
The Northern Mariana Islands stamp
Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. The Northern Mariana Islands’s is Prism: the full spectrum with glints, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year. With 487,000 international arrivals in 2019, the Northern Mariana Islands is rarer than 77% of the 199 places with figures. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.
What counts as a visit to the Northern Mariana Islands
The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts the Northern Mariana Islands when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. Photos only at an airport make a transit stamp in lighter ink, counted only if you count layovers. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.
Airports
The Northern Mariana Islands has 3 airports with scheduled flights, 1 of them large. Each is a dot on Globestamp’s airports layer, and every flight you log adds to how far you’ve flown (try the flight distance calculator).
4 regions to fill in
Globestamp goes deeper than countries: its regions layer splits the Northern Mariana Islands into 4 regions (Natural Earth’s first-level divisions), and each one fills in when a photo was taken there.
All 4
Northern Mariana Islands · Rota · Saipan · Tinian
Questions people ask
Is the Northern Mariana Islands a country?
It depends on the list. The Northern Mariana Islands is a territory of the United States, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian)”.
How many tourists visit the Northern Mariana Islands a year?
UN Tourism (via the World Bank) counted 487,000 international arrivals in the Northern Mariana Islands in 2019, the 153rd most of the 199 places with figures. Countries count arrivals in different ways (some include day-trippers and cruise passengers), so treat it as a rough rank rather than an exact number of tourists.
How rare is a Northern Mariana Islands stamp in Globestamp?
It is printed in Prism, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year, rarer than 77% of the places with figures. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.
Does the Northern Mariana Islands count for the Travelers’ Century Club?
Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Northern Marianas (Saipan, Tinian)”, one of its 330 destinations.
Places as rare as the Northern Mariana Islands
Near the Northern Mariana Islands
Sources
- Countries, cities and regions: Natural Earth 10m admin-0 (public domain); lists as of October 2026.
- Visitors: UN Tourism via the World Bank, ST.INT.ARVL (International tourism, number of arrivals), CC BY 4.0, data updated 2026-10-08. Each country's latest year before 2020. Countries count visitors differently; use as a rough rank.
- World Heritage Sites, parks, landmarks and the bucket-list places: Wikidata (CC0), as compiled in the app, October 2026.
- Airports: OurAirports (public domain), airports with scheduled service.
- Travelers’ Century Club: the club’s list of 330 destinations, as of January 2022.