how many states ae there in the world?

First off, a reply to "I can tell you are an idiot...you are very very very stupid." Not the most intelligent answer I've heard. Maybe you should assume she has a reason for asking it either way. For one thing, state is a perfectly acceptable term for nation or country. Even if SHE DID mean state in the sense of a province. A large internal division within a nation with it's own branches of government it's STILL a legitimate question. Maybe she wants to know the average number of states or provinces that the nations have. If you don't like the question, don't answer it, but there's no need to violate the http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines

To actually answer your question, it depends on whom you ask. This source includes many definitions of country and the counts for each. It's a couple years old and a little bit out of date (it lists 191 UN members, not 192), but I like this one better than similar pages.

"Depending on the definition of the word 'country', we can arrive at 191 [192], 196, 212, 244, 247, 268, 274, 277, 282, 315, 347, 383. This number may even grow to 387 during 2006. With very liberal counting we can even arrive at 393 or 493 countries."

It includes lists of every country by every definition.

There are 245 "entities" that could or could not be defined as sovereign states (nations), but are not internationally-recognized nations.

United Nations recognizes 192 nations and the Vatican City (#193), which is the smallest country in the world.

If you are talking about states as a division of a nation, like the 50 states in the USA or the provinces and territories of Canada or something, then I don't know how you could ever find that out because there are way too many, and many of them have questionable political relevance.