a message from the un regarding this un geoscheme dear bart thank you for your email the geographical groupings used by the united nations statistics division follow the m standard for area codes for statistical use details of which can be found here the designations employed and the presentation of material at this site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the secretariat of the united nations concerning the legal status of any country territory city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries the assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the united nations regions are so drawn as to obtain greater homogeneity in sizes of population demographic circumstances and accuracy of demographic statistics another example is russia it is in the continent of asia but it belongs in the eastern europe region this nomenclature is widely used in international statistics but it is by no means universal i hope this is useful best regards the un demographic yearbook team it seems the geoscheme that was created for internal use of one un agency is being not only over quoted on wikipedia but also abused