List of countries by length of coastline

This article contains a list of countries by length of coastline, in kilometers. Though the coastline paradox stipulates that coastlines do not have a well-defined length, there are various methods in use to measure coastlines through ratios and other metrics. A coastline of zero indicates that the country is landlocked.

Overview
An example of the coastline paradox. If measured using an interval of 125 mi (200 km), the coast of Great Britain has a length of about 1,500 mi (2,400 km). Using an interval of 30 mi (50 km), the length is about 2,100 mi (3,400 km).

The coastline paradox states that a coastline does not have a well-defined length. Measurements of the length of a coastline behave like a fractal, being different at different scale intervals (distance between points on the coastline at which measurements are taken). The smaller the scale interval (meaning the more detailed the measurement), the longer the coastline will be.[Note 1] This "magnifying" effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones.

  • Data marked The World Factbook or TWF covers 198 countries and 55 territories, from the book published by the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition to coastline lengths, this is the source of the land area used to calculate the "coast/area ratio" for both TWF and WRI (see below) coastline measurement. This ratio measures how many metres of coastline correspond to every square kilometer of land area. The ratio illustrates the ease of accessibility to the country's coast from every point in its interior. Therefore, an island country like Maldives, or a country carved by the sea like Greece, is more likely to have a high ratio, while a landlocked country will have a ratio of zero. Note that the scales at which The World Factbook figures were measured are not stated, nor is it known whether the figures are all reported using the same scale, thus the figures are not necessarily comparable across different countries.
  • Data marked World Resources Institute or WRI covers 182 independent countries and 13 dependencies, based on data calculated in 2000 from the World Vector Shoreline, United States Defense Mapping Agency, 1989. It may include territories whose status have changed. According to their technical notes, the "coastline length was derived from the World Vector Shoreline database at 1:250,000 scale. The estimates (...) were calculated using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and an underlying database consistent for the entire world. The methodology used to estimate length is based on the following: 1) A country's coastline is made up of individual lines, and an individual line has two or more vertices and/or nodes. 2) The length between two vertices is calculated on the surface of a sphere. 3) The sum of the lengths of the pairs of vertices is aggregated for each individual line, and 4) the sum of the lengths of individual lines was aggregated for a country. In general, the coastline length of islands that are part of a country, but are not overseas territories, are included in the coastline estimate for that country (e.g., Canary Islands are included in Spain). Coastline length for overseas territories and dependencies are listed separately. Disputed areas are not included in country or regional totals."[1]

List

Country The World Factbook[2] World Resources Institute[1] Land area
km2 (TWF)[3]		 Coast/area ratio (m/km2) Coast/area0.5 ratio
Rank km Rank km (TWF) (WRI) (TWF)
 World[Note 2]—356,000—1,634,701148,940,0002.3911.0 29.2
 Canada1202,0801265,5239,093,50722.229.2 67
 Norway283,281[Note 3]753,199304,282274175 151
 Indonesia354,716495,1811,811,56930.252.5 40.7
 Greenland[Note 4]—44,0872,166,08620.4 30
 Russia437,653[Note 5]3110,31016,377,7422.306.74 9.3
 Philippines536,289833,900298,170122114 66.5
 Japan629,7511229,020364,48581.679.6 49.3
 Australia725,760666,5307,682,3003.358.66 9.29
 United States819,9242133,3129,147,5932.1814.6 6.59
 Antarctica—17,96814,200,0001.27 4.77
 New Zealand915,1341717,209264,53757.265.1 29.4
 China1014,5001130,0179,326,4101.553.22 4.75
 Greece1113,676[Note 3]1915,147130,647105116 37.8
 United Kingdom1212,4291619,717241,93051.481.5 25.3
 Mexico139,3301423,7611,943,9454.8012.2 6.69
 Italy147,600289,226294,14025.831.4 14
 Brazil157,491933,3798,358,1400.8963.99 2.59
 Denmark167,314445,31642,434172126 35.5
 Turkey177,200318,140769,6329.3610.6 8.21
 India187,0001817,1812,973,1932.355.78 4.06
 Chile 196,435578,563743,8128.65106 7.46
 Micronesia, Federated States of206,112921,2957028,7101,840 231
 Croatia215,835[Note 3]425,66455,974112101 24.7
 Solomon Islands225,313269,88027,986190353 31.8
 Papua New Guinea235,1521520,197452,86011.444.6 7.66
 Argentina244,989308,3972,736,6901.823.07 3.02
 Iceland254,970298,506100,25049.684.8 15.7
 Spain[Note 6]264,964347,268498,9809.9514.6 7.03
 France274,853337,330640,4277.5811.4 6.06
 Madagascar284,828259,935581,5408.3017.1 6.33
 Malaysia294,675279,323328,65714.228.4 8.15
 Estonia303,794612,95642,38889.569.7 18.4
 Cuba313,7352114,519109,82034.0132 11.3
 Svalbard—3,58762,04557.8 14.4
 Bahamas, The323,5422411,23810,0103541,120 35.4
 Vietnam333,444[Note 7]2311,409310,07011.136.8 6.18
 Somalia343,333503,898627,3374.826.21 4.21
 Thailand353,219357,066510,8906.3013.8 4.5
 Sweden363,2181326,384410,3357.8464.3 5.02
 Colombia373,208415,8751,038,7003.095.66 3.15
 Coral Sea Islands—3,095<3>1,000,000
 French Southern and Antarctic Lands—2,948.4[Note 8]7,667.6385 33.7
 Morocco382,945732,009716,5502.562.80 3.48
 Venezuela392,800376,762882,0503.177.67 2.98
 South Africa402,798513,7511,214,4702.303.09 2.54
 Ukraine412,782454,953579,3304.808.55 3.66
 Saudi Arabia422,640327,5722,149,6901.233.52 1.8
 Vanuatu432,528593,13212,189207257 22.9
 French Polynesia—2,525—5,8303,8276601,520 40.8
 Korea, North442,495494,009120,40820.733.3 7.19
 Panama452,490435,63774,34033.575.8 9.13
 Mozambique462,470366,942786,3803.148.83 2.79
 Egypt472,450395,898995,4502.465.92 2.46
 Iran482,440[Note 9][Note 3]405,8911,531,5951.593.85 1.97
 Peru492,414553,3621,279,9961.892.63 2.13
 Korea, South502,4132212,47896,92024.9129 7.75
 Germany512,389523,624348,6726.8510.4 4.05
 New Caledonia—2,254—3,62418,275123198 16.7
 Ecuador522,237474,597276,8418.0816.6 4.25
 Eritrea532,234[Note 3]543,446101,00022.134.1 7.03
 Oman542,092652,810309,5006.769.08 3.76
 Myanmar551,9302014,708653,5082.9522.5 2.39
 Yemen561,906583,149527,9683.615.96 2.62
 Portugal571,793632,83091,47019.630.9 5.93
 Haiti581,771771,97727,56064.371.7 10.7
 Libya591,770712,0251,759,5401.011.15 1.33
 Angola601,600672,2521,246,7001.281.81 1.43
 Namibia611,572841,754823,2901.912.13 1.73
 Republic of China (Taiwan)621,566.3742,00732,26048.662.2 8.72
 Palau631,5194593,310 70.9
 Northern Mariana Islands—1,4824643,190 68.8
 Ireland641,448386,43768,88321.093.4 5.52
 Tanzania651,424533,461885,8001.613.91 1.51
 Sri Lanka661,340642,82564,63020.743.7 5.27
 United Arab Emirates671,318622,87183,60015.834.3 4.56
 Costa Rica681,290702,06951,06025.340.5 5.71
 Dominican Republic691,288881,61248,32026.733.4 5.86
 Falkland Islands—1,28812,173106 11.7
 Finland701,2501031,119303,8154.11102 2.27
 Tunisia711,148791,927155,3607.3912.4 2.91
 Kiribati721,143781,9618111,4102,420 40.1
 Fiji731,129464,63818,27461.8254 8.35
 Faroe Islands—1,1171,393802 29.9
 Pakistan741,046662,599770,8751.363.37 1.19
 Jamaica751,02210289510,83194.482.6 9.82
 Algeria76998901,5572,381,7400.4190.654 0.647
 Cape Verde77965971,1214,033239278 15.2
  Spratly Islands —926<5>200,000
 Nicaragua78910801,915119,9907.5816.0 2.63
 Gabon79885722,019257,6673.437.84 1.74
 Nigeria80853603,122910,7680.9373.43 0.894
 Sudan80853682,2451,731,6710.4931.30 0.648
 Honduras82832[Note 10]821,878111,8907.4416.8 2.49
 Mauritania83754941,2681,030,7000.7321.23 0.743
 Hong Kong—733—9551,073683890 22.4
 Timor-Leste8470614,87447.5 5.79
 British Indian Ocean Territory—6986011,600 90.1
 Uruguay85660981,096175,0153.776.26 1.58
 Cyprus866481126719,24170.172.6 6.74
 Maldives87644752,0022982,1606,720 37.3
 Bangladesh88580563,306130,1704.4625.4 1.61
 Liberia8957910484296,3206.018.74 1.87
 Qatar9056310090911,58648.678.5 5.23
 Ghana91539106758227,5332.373.33 1.13
 Kenya92536891,586569,1400.9422.79 0.71
 Senegal93531911,327192,5302.766.89 1.21
  Paracel Islands —5187.7566,800 186
 Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)94515105797318,0031.622.51 0.913
 Puerto Rico—501—1,0948,95955.9122 5.29
 Kuwait9549910775617,81828.042.4 3.74
 Latvia9649811656662,2498.009.09 2
 Seychelles974911097474551,0801,640 23
 Guyana98459951,154196,8492.335.86 1.03
 Netherlands99451[Note 11]811,91433,89313.356.5 2.45
 Cambodia100443961,127176,5152.516.38 1.05
 Poland101440991,032304,2551.453.39 0.798
 Tonga1024191019097175841,270 15.6
 Samoa1034031204632,821143164 7.59
 Cameroon104402831,799472,7100.8503.81 0.585
 Sierra Leone104402861,67771,6205.6123.4 1.5
 Guatemala106400122445107,1593.734.15 1.22
 Turks and Caicos Islands—389948410 12.6
 Belize107386761,99622,80616.987.5 2.56
 Suriname107386114620156,0002.473.97 0.977
 Marshall Islands109370.4692,1061812,05011,600 27.5
 Curaçao—364444820 17.3
 Albania11036211364927,39813.223.7 2.19
 Trinidad and Tobago1103621107045,12870.6137 5.06
 Bulgaria112354121457108,4893.264.21 1.07
 Guinea-Bissau113350573,17628,12012.4113 2.09
 Comoros1143401194692,235152210 7.19
 Guinea115320871,615245,7171.306.57 0.646
 Djibouti11631412344323,18013.519.1 2.06
 Georgia11731012437669,7004.455.39 1.17
 El Salvador11830710875620,72114.836.5 2.13
 Equatorial Guinea11929611560328,05110.621.5 1.77
 Montenegro120293.513,45221.82 2.53
 Israel121273[Note 12]13620521,49712.79.54 1.86
 Malta122252.8137198316800627 14.2
 Lebanon12322512529410,23022.028.7 2.22
 Romania123225111696229,8910.9793.03 0.469
 São Tomé and Príncipe125209128269964217279 6.73
 Singapore126193129268709.2272378 7.25
 Syria126193134212185,8871.041.14 0.448
 U.S. Virgin Islands—188—3903465431,130 10.1
 Mauritius1281771184962,03087.2244 3.93
 Congo, Republic of the129169135205341,5000.4950.600 0.289
 Bahrain130161132255760212336 5.84
 Brunei1301611272695,26530.651.1 2.22
 Cayman Islands—160264606 9.85
 Isle of Man—160572280 6.69
 Saint Lucia132158139166606261274 6.42
 Antigua and Barbuda133153126289442.6346653 7.27
 Dominica134148141152751197202 5.4
 Christmas Island—138.91351,030 12
 Saint Kitts and Nevis135135261517 8.36
 Wallis and Futuna—129142908 10.8
 Guam—125.5544231 5.38
 Jan Mayen—124.1377329 6.39
 Benin136121140153110,6221.091.38 0.364
 Grenada136121133252344352733 6.52
 Cook Islands138120236508 7.81
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon—120242496 7.71
 American Samoa—116224518 7.75
 Bermuda—103—180541,9103,330 14
 Heard Island and McDonald Islands—101.9412247 5.02
 Tokelau—101128,420 29.2
 Barbados1399714397430226226 4.68
 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha—94[Note 13]394239 4.74
 Lithuania1409013125862,6801.444.12 0.359
 United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges[Note 14]—85.722.413,820 18.1
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines14184130264389216679 4.26
 Akrotiri and Dhekelia—83.8253.8[4]330 5.26
 British Virgin Islands—80151530 6.51
 Gambia1428011750310,1207.9149.7 0.795
 Ashmore and Cartier Islands—74.1514,800 33.1
 Jersey—70116603 6.5
 Aruba—68.5—107180381594 5.11
 Belgium14366.51447630,2782.202.51 0.382
 Niue14464260246 3.97
 Anguilla—6191670 6.39
 Saint Martin—58.9[Note 15]54.41,080 7.99
 Iraq14558142105437,3670.1330.240 0.0877
 Togo146561455354,3851.030.975 0.24
 Pitcairn Islands—51471,090 7.44
 Guernsey—5078641 5.66
 Slovenia14746.61464120,1512.312.03 0.328
 Macau—41—3628.21,4501,280 7.72
 Gaza Strip (Palestine)14840360111 2.11
 Montserrat—40102392 3.96
 Congo, Democratic Republic of the149371381772,267,0480.01630.0781 0.0246
 Norfolk Island—3236889 5.33
 Nauru15030211,430 6.55
 Bouvet Island—29.649604 4.23
 Cocos (Keeling) Islands—26141,860 6.95
 Jordan15126[Note 16]1472788,8020.2930.304 0.0872
 Tuvalu1522426923 4.71
 Bosnia and Herzegovina153201482351,1870.3910.449 0.0884
 Wake Island—19.36.52,970 7.57
 Gibraltar—126.51,850 4.71
 Clipperton Island—11.161,850 4.53
 Navassa Island—85.41,480 3.44
 Monaco1544.122,050 2.9
 Saint Barthélemy—NA25
 Sint Maarten—NA[Note 17]340.0147
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands—NA3,9030.000128
 Kazakhstan1550[Note 18]484,5282,699,70001.68
 Turkmenistan1550[Note 19]931,289469,93002.74
 Azerbaijan1550[Note 20]10387182,629010.5
 West Bank (Palestine)1550[Note 21]5,6400
 Afghanistan15501490652,23000
 Andorra15504680
 Armenia1550149028,20300
 Austria1550149082,44500
 Belarus15501490202,90000
 Bhutan1550149038,39400
 Bolivia155014901,083,30100
 Botswana15501490566,73000
 Burkina Faso15501490273,80000
 Burundi1550149025,68000
 Central African Republic15501490622,98400
 Chad155014901,259,20000
 Czech Republic1550149077,24700
 Ethiopia155014901,096,57000
 Hungary1550149089,60800
 Kosovo155010,8870
 Kyrgyzstan15501490191,80100
 Laos15501490230,80000
 Lesotho1550149030,35500
 Liechtenstein15501600
 Luxembourg155014902,58600
 Malawi1550149094,08000
 Mali155014901,220,19000
 Moldova1550149032,89100
 Mongolia155014901,553,55600
   Nepal15501490143,35100
 Niger155014901,266,70000
 North Macedonia1550149025,43300
 Paraguay15501490397,30200
 Rwanda1550149024,66800
 San Marino1550610
 Serbia155077,4740
 Slovakia1550149048,10500
 South Sudan1550644,329[4]0
 Swaziland1550149017,20400
  Switzerland1550149039,99700
 Tajikistan15501490141,51000
 Uganda15501490197,10000
 Uzbekistan1550851,707425,40004.01
  Vatican City15500.440
 Zambia15501490743,39800
 Zimbabwe15501490386,84700
 French Guiana—763
 Guadeloupe—581
 Martinique—369
 Caribbean Netherlands—361
 Réunion—219

See also

Notes
  1. The smaller the scale interval mathematically, the more detailed and the "greater the scale of the map", in common usage. See scale (map).
  2. World total includes countries not listed and coastline for disputed areas.
  3. Includes coastline of outlying islands.
  4. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
  5. Russia has an additional 850 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
  6. Includes coastline length for the Canary Islands.
  7. Excludes minor outlying islands.
  8. Does not include Saint Paul Island and the Crozet Islands (data unavailable) or the Adelie Land claim to Antarctica.
  9. Iran has an additional 740 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
  10. Includes coastline in the Gulf of Fonseca (163 km).
  11. In 1900, the Dutch coastline measured approximately 1400 km. It has significantly been reduced by the closing of the Zuiderzee by the Afsluitdijk in 1932 (250 km) and the closing of several sea arms by the Delta Works (700 km).
  12. Israel has an additional coastline along the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee (both landlocked), with a total length of 63 km.
  13. Excluding Ascension Island (data unavailable).
  14. Includes Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll.
  15. Figure represents the coastline of the entire island, including Sint Maarten (administered by the Netherlands).
  16. Jordan has an additional 50 km of coastline along the Dead Sea, which is landlocked.
  17. Coastline included in figure for Saint Martin (administered by France).
  18. Kazakhstan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,894 km.
  19. Turkmenistan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,768 km.
  20. Azerbaijan has a 713-km coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
  21. The West Bank has a 40-km coastline along the Dead Sea, which is landlocked.

References
  1. "Coastal and Marine Ecosystems — Marine Jurisdictions: Coastline length". World Resources Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  2. "Coastline - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov.
  3. "Field Listing :: Area — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". October 22, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22.
  4. Figure represents total area rather than land area.

Further reading
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