How many continents are there?

The seven-continent model taught throughout the English-speaking world lists Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Large parts of Europe and Latin America teach six, treating the Americas as a single landmass, which is defensible since they are physically joined. Other six-continent models merge Europe and Asia into Eurasia, which is arguably better geology given they sit on one continuous landmass with no water separation. Five-continent models, including the one behind the Olympic rings, typically omit Antarctica as uninhabited. Each is internally consistent, and no international body arbitrates.

The reason the question has no clean answer is that continent is a cultural and historical category wearing scientific clothing. Geologically the meaningful units are tectonic plates, and they do not match the continents: India sits on its own plate, the Arabian Peninsula on another, and the boundary between Europe and Asia is a convention running roughly along the Urals rather than any physical division. Geologists have also formally described Zealandia, a largely submerged continental mass around New Zealand, which satisfies the geological criteria while failing the popular one of being visible. The practical takeaway is that anyone insisting on a single correct number is reporting their schooling rather than a fact.