List of countries and dependencies by length of coastline

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.^[a] This "magnifying" effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones.

Data marked The World Factbook or TWF is derived from the book published by the Central Intelligence Agency and covers 198 countries and 55 territories. 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,

"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]

In addition to coastline lengths, The World Factbook is the source of the land area used to calculate the "coast/area ratio" for both coastline measurements. 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.

Data are from the CIA World Factbook^[2][3] and the World Resources Institute.^[1] Non-sovereign areas are listed in italics.

More information Location, Coastline (km) ...

Location	Coastline (km)		Land area (km2)	Coast/area ratio (m/km2)		Note
	(CIA)	(WRI)		(CIA)	(WRI)
World	356,000	1,634,701	148,940,000	2.39	11.0	World total includes countries not listed and coastline for disputed areas.
Canada	202,080	265,523	9,093,507	22.2	29.2
Norway	83,281	53,199	304,282	274	175	Includes coastline of outlying islands.
Indonesia	54,716	95,181	1,811,569	30.2	52.5
European Union	53,563		4,236,351	12.6		The European Union is included because it has certain attributes associated with independent countries. However, the EU is not a federation in the strict sense.
Greenland (Denmark)	44,087		2,166,086	20.4
Russia	37,653	110,310	16,377,742	2.30	6.74	Russia has an additional 850 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
Philippines	36,289	33,900	298,170	122	114
Japan	29,751	29,020	364,485	81.6	79.6
Australia	25,760	66,530	7,682,300	3.35	8.66
United States	19,924	133,312	9,147,593	2.18	14.6
Antarctica (Disputed)	17,968		14,200,000	1.27
New Zealand	15,134	17,209	264,537	57.2	65.1
China	14,500	30,017	9,326,410	1.55	3.22
Greece	13,676	15,147	130,647	105	116	Includes coastline of outlying islands.
United Kingdom	12,429	19,717	241,930	51.4	81.5
Mexico	9,330	23,761	1,943,945	4.80	12.2
Italy	7,600	9,226	294,140	25.8	31.4
Denmark	7,314	5,316	42,434	179	217
India	11,098[4]	17,181	3,287,263	2.35	5.78
Brazil	7,491	33,379	8,358,140	0.896	3.99
Turkey	7,200	8,140	769,632	9.36	10.6
Chile	6,435	78,563	743,812	8.65	106
Micronesia	6,112	1,295	702	8,710	1,840
Croatia	5,835	5,664	55,974	112	101	Includes coastline of outlying islands.
Solomon Islands	5,313	9,880	27,986	190	353
Papua New Guinea	5,152	20,197	452,860	11.4	44.6
Argentina	4,989	8,397	2,736,690	1.82	3.07
Iceland	4,970	8,506	100,250	49.6	84.8
Spain	4,964	7,268	498,980	9.95	14.6	Includes coastline length for the Canary Islands.
France	4,853	7,330	640,427	7.58	11.4
Madagascar	4,828	9,935	581,540	8.30	17.1
Malaysia	4,675	9,323	328,657	14.2	28.4
Estonia	3,794	2,956	42,388	89.5	69.7
Cuba	3,735	14,519	109,820	34.0	132
Svalbard (Norway)	3,587		62,045	57.8
Bahamas	3,542	11,238	10,010	354	1,120
Vietnam	3,444	11,409	310,070	11.1	36.8	Excludes minor outlying islands.
Somalia	3,333	3,898	627,337	4.82	6.21
Thailand	3,219	7,066	510,890	6.30	13.8
Sweden	3,218	26,384	410,335	7.84	64.3
Colombia	3,208	5,875	1,038,700	3.09	5.66
Coral Sea Islands (Australia)	3,095		<3	>1,000,000
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (France)	2,948.4		7,667.6	385		Does not include Saint Paul Island and the Crozet Islands (data unavailable) or the Adélie Land claim to Antarctica.
Morocco	2,945	2,009	716,550	2.56	2.80
Venezuela	2,800	6,762	882,050	3.17	7.67
South Africa	2,798	3,751	1,214,470	2.30	3.09
Ukraine	2,782	4,953	603,628	4.80	8.55
Saudi Arabia	2,640	7,572	2,149,690	1.23	3.52
Vanuatu	2,528	3,132	12,189	207	257
French Polynesia (France)	2,525	5,830	3,827	660	1,520
North Korea	2,495	4,009	120,408	20.7	33.3
Panama	2,490	5,637	74,340	33.5	75.8
Mozambique	2,470	6,942	786,380	3.14	8.83
Egypt	2,450	5,898	995,450	2.46	5.92
Iran	2,440	5,891	1,531,595	1.59	3.85	Includes coastline of outlying islands. Iran has an additional 740 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
Peru	2,414	3,362	1,279,996	1.89	2.63
South Korea	2,413	12,478	96,920	24.9	129
Germany	2,389	3,624	348,672	6.85	10.4
New Caledonia (France)	2,254	3,624	18,275	123	198
Ecuador	2,237	4,597	276,841	8.08	16.6
Eritrea	2,234	3,446	101,000	22.1	34.1	Includes coastline of outlying islands.
Oman	2,092	2,810	309,500	6.76	9.08
Myanmar	1,930	14,708	653,508	2.95	22.5
Yemen	1,906	3,149	527,968	3.61	5.96
Portugal	1,793	2,830	91,470	19.6	30.9
Haiti	1,771	1,977	27,560	64.3	71.7
Libya	1,770	2,025	1,759,540	1.01	1.15
Angola	1,600	2,252	1,246,700	1.28	1.81
Namibia	1,572	1,754	823,290	1.91	2.13
Taiwan	1,566.3	2,007	32,260	48.6	62.2
Palau	1,519		459	3,310
Northern Mariana Islands (United States)	1,482		464	3,190
Ireland	1,448	6,437	68,883	21.0	93.4
Tanzania	1,424	3,461	885,800	1.61	3.91
Sri Lanka	1,340	2,825	64,630	20.7	43.7
United Arab Emirates	1,318	2,871	83,600	15.8	34.3
Costa Rica	1,290	2,069	51,060	25.3	40.5
Dominican Republic	1,288	1,612	48,320	26.7	33.4
Falkland Islands (United Kingdom)	1,288		12,173	106
Finland	1,250	31,119	303,815	4.11	102
Tunisia	1,148	1,927	155,360	7.39	12.4
Kiribati	1,143	1,961	811	1,410	2,420
Fiji	1,129	4,638	18,274	61.8	254
Faroe Islands (Denmark)	1,117		1,393	802
Pakistan	1,046	2,599	770,875	1.36	3.37
Jamaica	1,022	895	10,831	94.4	82.6
Algeria	998	1,557	2,381,740	0.419	0.654
Cape Verde	965	1,121	4,033	239	278
Spratly Islands (Disputed)	926		<5	>200,000
Nicaragua	910	1,915	119,990	7.58	16.0
Gabon	885	2,019	257,667	3.43	7.84
Nigeria	853	3,122	910,768	0.937	3.43
Sudan	853	2,245	1,731,671	0.493	1.30
Honduras	832	1,878	111,890	7.44	16.8	Includes coastline in the Gulf of Fonseca (163 km).
Mauritania	754	1,268	1,030,700	0.732	1.23
Hong Kong (China)	733	955	1,073	683	890
Timor-Leste	706		14,874	47.5
British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom)	698		60	11,600
Uruguay	660	1,096	175,015	3.77	6.26
Cyprus	648	671	9,241	70.1	72.6
Maldives	644	2,002	298	2,160	6,720
Bangladesh	580	3,306	148,470	4.46	25.4
Liberia	579	842	96,320	6.01	8.74
Qatar	563	909	11,586	48.6	78.5
Ghana	539	758	227,533	2.37	3.33
Kenya	536	1,586	569,140	0.942	2.79
Senegal	531	1,327	192,530	2.76	6.89
Paracel Islands (Disputed)	518		7.75	66,800
Ivory Coast	515	797	318,003	1.62	2.51
Puerto Rico (United States)	501	1,094	8,959	55.9	122
Kuwait	499	756	17,818	28.0	42.4
Latvia	498	566	62,249	8.00	9.09
Seychelles	491	747	455	1,080	1,640
Guyana	459	1,154	196,849	2.33	5.86
Netherlands	451	1,914	33,893	13.3	56.5	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).
Cambodia	443	1,127	176,515	2.51	6.38
Poland	440	1,032	304,255	1.45	3.39
Tonga	419	909	717	584	1,270
Samoa	403	463	2,821	143	164
Cameroon	402	1,799	472,710	0.850	3.81
Sierra Leone	402	1,677	71,620	5.61	23.4
Guatemala	400	445	107,159	3.73	4.15
Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom)	389		948	410
Belize	386	1,996	22,806	16.9	87.5
Suriname	386	620	156,000	2.47	3.97
Marshall Islands	370.4	2,106	181	2,050	11,600
Curaçao (Netherlands)	364		444	820
Albania	362	649	27,398	13.2	23.7
Trinidad and Tobago	362	704	5,128	70.6	137
Bulgaria	354	457	108,489	3.26	4.21
Guinea-Bissau	350	3,176	28,120	12.4	113
Comoros	340	469	2,235	152	210
Guinea	320	1,615	245,717	1.30	6.57
Djibouti	314	443	23,180	13.5	19.1
Georgia	310	376	69,700	4.45	5.39
El Salvador	307	756	20,721	14.8	36.5
Equatorial Guinea	296	603	28,051	10.6	21.5
Montenegro	293.5		13,452	21.82
Israel	273	205	21,497	12.7	9.54	Israel has an additional coastline along the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee (both landlocked), with a total length of 63 km.
Malta	252.8	198	316	800	627
Lebanon	225	294	10,230	22.0	28.7
Romania	225	696	229,891	0.979	3.03
São Tomé and Príncipe	209	269	964	217	279
Singapore	193	268	709.2	272	378
Syria	193	212	185,887	1.04	1.14
U.S. Virgin Islands (United States)	188	390	346	543	1,130
Mauritius	177	496	2,030	87.2	244
Congo, Republic of the	169	205	341,500	0.495	0.600
Bahrain	161	255	760	212	336
Brunei	161	269	5,265	30.6	51.1
Cayman Islands (United Kingdom)	160		264	606
Isle of Man (United Kingdom)	160		572	280
Saint Lucia	158	166	606	261	274
Antigua and Barbuda	153	289	442.6	346	653
Dominica	148	152	751	197	202
Christmas Island (Australia)	138.9		135	1,030
Saint Kitts and Nevis	135		261	517
Wallis and Futuna (France)	129		142	908
Guam (United States)	125.5		544	231
Jan Mayen (Norway)	124.1		377	329
Benin	121	153	110,622	1.09	1.38
Grenada	121	252	344	352	733
Cook Islands (New Zealand)	120		236	508
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France)	120		242	496
American Samoa (United States)	116		224	518
Bermuda (United Kingdom)	103	180	54	1,910	3,330
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Australia)	101.9		412	247
Tokelau (New Zealand)	101		12	8,420
Barbados	97	97	430	226	226
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)	94		394	239		Excluding Ascension Island (data unavailable).
Lithuania	90	258	62,680	1.44	4.12
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges (United States)	85.7		22.41	3,820		Includes Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	84	264	389	216	679
Akrotiri and Dhekelia (United Kingdom)	83.8		253.8	330		Figure represents total area rather than land area.
British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)	80		151	530
Gambia	80	503	10,120	7.91	49.7
Ashmore and Cartier Islands (Australia)	74.1		5	14,800
Jersey (United Kingdom)	70		116	603
Aruba (Netherlands)	68.5	107	180	381	594
Belgium	66.5	76	30,278	2.20	2.51
Niue (New Zealand)	64		260	246
Anguilla (United Kingdom)	61		91	670
Saint Martin (Netherlands)	58.9		54.4	1,080		Figure represents the coastline of the entire island, including Sint Maarten (administered by the Netherlands).
Iraq	58	105	437,367	0.133	0.240
Togo	56	53	54,385	1.03	0.975
Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom)	51		47	1,090
Guernsey (United Kingdom)	50		78	641
Slovenia	46.6	41	20,151	2.31	2.03
Macau (China)	41	36	28.2	1,450	1,280
Gaza Strip (Palestine)	40		360	111
Montserrat (United Kingdom)	40		102	392
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	37	177	2,267,048	0.0163	0.0781
Norfolk Island (Australia)	32		36	889
Nauru	30		21	1,430
Bouvet Island (Norway)	29.6		49	604
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)	26		14	1,860
Jordan	26	27	88,802	0.293	0.304	Jordan has an additional 50 km of coastline along the Dead Sea, which is landlocked.
Tuvalu	24		26	923
Bosnia and Herzegovina	20	23	51,187	0.391	0.449
Wake Island (United States)	19.3		6.5	2,970
Gibraltar (United Kingdom)	12		6.5	1,850
Clipperton Island (France)	11.1		6	1,850
Navassa Island (Disputed)	8		5.4	1,480
Monaco	4.1		2	2,050
Saint Barthélemy (France)	NA		25
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)	NA		34	0.0147		Coastline included in figure for Saint Martin (administered by France).
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom)	NA		3,903	0.000128
Kazakhstan	0	4,528	2,699,700	0	1.68	Kazakhstan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,894 km.
Turkmenistan	0	1,289	469,930	0	2.74	Turkmenistan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,768 km.
Azerbaijan	0	871	82,629	0	10.5	Azerbaijan has a 713-km coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
West Bank (Palestine)	0		5,640	0		The West Bank has a 40-km coastline along the Dead Sea, which is landlocked.
Afghanistan	0	0	652,230	0	0
Andorra	0		468	0
Armenia	0	0	28,203	0	0
Austria	0	0	82,445	0	0
Belarus	0	0	202,900	0	0
Bhutan	0	0	38,394	0	0
Bolivia	0	0	1,083,301	0	0
Botswana	0	0	566,730	0	0
Burkina Faso	0	0	273,800	0	0
Burundi	0	0	25,680	0	0
Central African Republic	0	0	622,984	0	0
Chad	0	0	1,259,200	0	0
Czech Republic	0	0	77,247	0	0
Ethiopia	0	0	1,096,570	0	0
Hungary	0	0	89,608	0	0
Kosovo	0		10,887	0
Kyrgyzstan	0	0	191,801	0	0
Laos	0	0	230,800	0	0
Lesotho	0	0	30,355	0	0
Liechtenstein	0		160	0
Luxembourg	0	0	2,586	0	0
Malawi	0	0	94,080	0	0
Mali	0	0	1,220,190	0	0
Moldova	0	0	32,891	0	0
Mongolia	0	0	1,553,556	0	0
Nepal	0	0	143,351	0	0
Niger	0	0	1,266,700	0	0
North Macedonia	0	0	25,433	0	0
Paraguay	0	0	397,302	0	0
Rwanda	0	0	24,668	0	0
San Marino	0		61	0
Serbia	0		77,474	0
Slovakia	0	0	48,105	0	0
South Sudan	0		644,329	0		Figure represents total area rather than land area.
Swaziland	0	0	17,204	0	0
Switzerland	0	0	39,997	0	0
Tajikistan	0	0	141,510	0	0
Uganda	0	0	197,100	0	0
Uzbekistan	0	1,707	425,400	0	4.01
Vatican City	0		0.44	0
Zambia	0	0	743,398	0	0
Zimbabwe	0	0	386,847	0	0
French Guiana (France)		763
Guadeloupe (France)		581
Martinique (France)		369
Caribbean Netherlands (Netherlands)		361
Réunion (France)		219

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• Coastal India
• Coastline of Brazil
• Coastline of China
• Coastline of Malta
• Coastline of New Zealand
• Coastline of the United Kingdom
• Coastline of Western Australia
• List of countries bordering on two or more oceans
• List of U.S. states by coastline