China, US and France are the top 3 countries have the highest diplomatic posts/missions abroad, thus establishing big diplomatic footprint around the world.

Before we head below, lets understand a bit about embassy and consulates. The Embassies, Consulates and High commissions are established to extend diplomacy and assist their citizens during emergency.

So what are the differences?

  • Embassy is a diplomatic mission generally located in the capital city of another country which offers a full range of services, including consular services. Embassy and diplomatic employees have full and absolute inviolability and immunities towards host state authorities including its judiciary
  • High commission is an embassy of a Commonwealth country located in another Commonwealth country.
  • Permanent mission is a diplomatic mission to a major international organization (eg UN). All missions to the United Nations are known simply as permanent missions, while EU member states’ missions to the European Union are known as permanent representations, and the head of such a mission is typically both a permanent representative and an ambassador.
  • Consulate General is a diplomatic mission located usually other than the capital city, which provides a full range of consular services. consulate and consular employees only have limited inviolability and immunities
  • Consulate is a diplomatic mission that is similar to a consulate general, but may not provide a full range of services ( only limited service).

These are  the list of top countries that have the most diplomatic missions abroad for 2019.

Diplomatic missions

Total Embassy or High Commissions Consulates / Consulate General Permanent Missions Other
China 276 169 96 8 3
United States 273 168 88 9 8
France 267 161 89 15 2
Japan 247 151 65 10 21
Russia 242 144 85 11 2
Turkey 235 140 81 12 2
Germany 224 150 61 11 2
Brazil 222 138 70 12 2
Spain 215 115 89 10 1
Italy 209 124 77 8 0
United Kingdom 205 149 44 9 3
India 186 123 54 5 4
Korea Republic of (South Korea) 183 114 51 5 13
Argentina 157 86 62 7 2
Mexico 157 80 67 7 3
Netherlands 152 107 29 12 4
Switzerland 146 103 30 10 3
Canada 144 96 36 10 2
Poland 136 88 36 9 3
Greece 135 82 43 9 1
Indonesia 132 94 34 3 1
Hungary 131 86 35 7 3
Portugal 128 71 48 8 1
Chile 128 70 51 6 1
South Africa 124 106 14 2 2
Belgium 118 82 22 9 5
Australia 118 81 31 4 2
Pakistan 117 85 30 2 0
Czech Republic 116 90 19 5 2
Saudi Arabia 114 96 15 2 1
Malaysia 107 80 23 3 1
Taiwan* 107 15 2 1 89
Sweden 104 88 8 7 1
Israel 104 77 20 6 1
Norway 99 79 9 10 1
Austria 98 80 9 7 2
Thailand 98 65 29 3 1
Vietnam 96 69 22 4 1
Denmark 89 67 14 6 2
Ireland 87 66 14 6 1
Philippines 87 60 23 4 0
Finland 85 70 6 6 3
Slovak Republic 81 63 8 8 2
Bangladesh 75 57 16 2 0
New Zealand 72 50 17 4 1
Sri Lanka 67 51 13 2 1
Lithuania 61 40 12 8 1
Slovenia 54 41 5 7 1
North Korea 52 47 3 2 0
Singapore 50 28 17 4 1
Latvia 47 37 3 7 0
Estonia 44 36 2 6 0
Myanmar 44 36 6 2 0
Mongolia 43 30 11 1 1
Brunei Darussalam 42 35 4 3 0
Nepal 39 32 6 1 0
Lao People’s Democratic Republic 39 26 10 3 0
Cambodia 38 25 10 3 0
Luxembourg 37 26 7 3 1
Iceland 25 16 4 5 0
Bhutan 9 5 2 2 0

Source: Global Diplomacy Index 2019 / Lowy Institute