List of countries by length of coastline

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An example of the coastline paradox. If the coastline of Britain is measured using a scale interval of 200 km (left), then the length of the coastline is about 2400 km. Using a scale interval of 50 km (right), the length of the coastline is about 3400 km.

This article contains two lists of countries by length of coastline, in kilometers. A coastline of zero indicates that the country is landlocked.

Overview

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. Treated as fractals, coastlines can however be measured. For example, the coast of Great Britain has a size of about 28000 km1.43, which is called its Hausdorff measure.[1]

  • 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 coastline measurement. This ratio measures how many meters 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 Wold 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 kilometers. 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."[2]

List

Country The World Factbook[3] World Resources Institute[2] Land Area
km² (TWF)[4]		 Coast/area ratio (m/km²)
# km # km (TWF) (WRI)
 World[Note 2] — 1,162,306 — 1,634,701 148,940,000 7.80 11.0
 other[Note 3] — 356,000
 Canada 1 202,080 1 265,523 9,984,670 20.2 26.6
 Indonesia 2 54,716 4 95,181 1,811,569 30.2 52.5
 Greenland[Note 4] — 44,087 2,166,086 20.4
 Russia 3 37,653 3 110,310 16,377,742 2.30 6.74
 Philippines 4 36,289 8 33,900 298,170 122 114
 Japan 5 29,751 12 29,020 364,485 81.6 79.6
 Australia 6 25,760 6 66,530 7,682,300 3.35 8.66
 Norway 7 25,148[Note 5] 7 53,199 304,282 82.6 175
 United States 8 19,924 2 133,312 9,161,966 2.17 14.6
 Antarctica — 17,968 14,000,000 1.28
 New Zealand 9 15,134 17 17,209 267,710[5] 56.5 64.3
 China 10 14,500 11 30,017 9,569,901 1.52 3.14
 Greece 11 13,676 19 15,147 131,957 104 115
 United Kingdom 12 12,429 16 19,717 241,930 51.4 81.5
 Mexico 13 9,330 14 23,761 1,943,945 4.80 12.2
 Italy 14 7,600 28 9,226 294,140 25.8 31.4
 Brazil 15 7,491 9 33,379 8,459,417 0.886 3.95
 Denmark 16 7,314 44 5,316 42,434 172 125
 Turkey 17 7,200 31 8,140 783,562 9.19 10.4
 India 18 7,000 18 17,181 2,973,193 2.35 5.78
 Chile 19 6,435 5 78,563 743,812 8.65 106
 Croatia 20 6,268[6] 42 5,664 55,974 112 101
 Micronesia, Federated States of 21 6,112 92 1,295 702 8,710 1,840
 Solomon Islands 22 5,313 26 9,880 27,986 190 353
 Papua New Guinea 23 5,152 15 20,197 452,860 11.4 44.6
 Argentina 24 4,989 30 8,397 2,736,690 1.82 3.07
 Iceland 25 4,970 29 8,506 100,250 49.6 84.8
 Spain[Note 6] 26 4,964 34 7,268 498,980 9.95 14.6
 France 27 4,853 33 7,330 640,427 7.58 11.4
 Madagascar 28 4,828 25 9,935 581,540 8.30 17.1
 Malaysia 29 4,675 27 9,323 328,657 14.2 28.4
 Estonia 30 3,794 61 2,956 42,388 89.5 69.7
 Cuba 31 3,735 21 14,519 109,820 34.0 132
 Svalbard — 3,587 62,045 57.8
 Bahamas, The 32 3,542 24 11,238 10,010 354 1,120
 Vietnam 33 3,444[Note 7] 23 11,409 310,070 11.1 36.8
 Thailand 34 3,219 35 7,066 510,890 6.30 13.8
 Sweden 35 3,218 13 26,384 410,335 7.84 64.3
 Colombia 36 3,208 41 5,875 1,038,700 3.09 5.66
 Coral Sea Islands — 3,095 <3 >1,000,000
 Somalia 37 3,333 50 3,898 627,337 5.31 6.21
 Iran 38 3,294[Note 8] 40 5,891 1,636,100 1.59 3.85
 French Southern and Antarctic Lands — 2,948.4[Note 9] 7,667.6 385
 Venezuela 39 2,800 37 6,762 882,050 3.17 7.67
 South Africa 40 2,798 51 3,751 1,214,470 2.30 3.09
 Ukraine 41 2,782 45 4,953 579,330 4.80 8.55
 Saudi Arabia 42 2,640 32 7,572 2,149,690 1.23 3.52
 Vanuatu 43 2,528 59 3,132 12,189 207 257
 French Polynesia — 2,525 — 5,830 3,827 660 1,520
 Korea, North 44 2,495 49 4,009 120,408 20.7 33.3
 Panama 45 2,490 43 5,637 74,340 33.5 75.8
 Mozambique 46 2,470 36 6,942 786,380 3.14 8.83
 Egypt 47 2,450 39 5,898 995,450 2.46 5.92
 Peru 48 2,414 55 3,362 1,279,996 1.89 2.63
 Korea, South 49 2,413 22 12,478 96,920 24.9 129
 Germany 50 2,389 52 3,624 348,672 6.85 10.4
 New Caledonia — 2,254 — 3,624 18,275 123 198
 Ecuador 51 2,237 47 4,597 276,841 8.08 16.6
 Eritrea 52 2,234[6] 54 3,446 101,000 22.1 34.1
 Oman 53 2,092 65 2,810 309,500 6.76 9.08
 Burma 54 1,930 20 14,708 653,508 2.95 22.5
 Yemen 55 1,906 58 3,149 527,968 3.61 5.96
 Morocco 56 1,835 73 2,009 446,300 4.11 4.50
 Portugal 57 1,793 63 2,830 91,470 19.6 30.9
 Haiti 58 1,771 77 1,977 27,560 64.3 71.7
 Libya 59 1,770 71 2,025 1,759,540 1.01 1.15
 Angola 60 1,600 67 2,252 1,246,700 1.28 1.81
 Namibia 61 1,572 84 1,754 823,290 1.91 2.13
 Taiwan 62 1,566.3 74 2,007 32,260 48.6 62.2
 Palau 63 1,519 459 3,310
 Northern Mariana Islands — 1,482 464 3,190
 Ireland 64 1,448 38 6,437 68,883 21.0 93.4
 Tanzania 65 1,424 53 3,461 885,800 1.61 3.91
 Sri Lanka 66 1,340 64 2,825 64,630 20.7 43.7
 United Arab Emirates 67 1,318 62 2,871 83,600 15.8 34.3
 Costa Rica 68 1,290 70 2,069 51,060 25.3 40.5
 Dominican Republic 69 1,288 88 1,612 48,320 26.7 33.4
 Falkland Islands — 1,288 12,173 106
 Finland 70 1,250 10 31,119 303,815 4.11 102
 Tunisia 71 1,148 79 1,927 155,360 7.39 12.4
 Kiribati 72 1,143 78 1,961 811 1,410 2,420
 Fiji 73 1,129 46 4,638 18,274 61.8 254
 Faroe Islands — 1,117 1,393 802
 Western Sahara — 1,110 266,000 4.17
 Pakistan 74 1,046 66 2,599 881,912 1.19 2.95
 Jamaica 75 1,022 102 895 10,831 94.4 82.6
 Algeria 76 998 90 1,557 2,381,741 0.419 0.654
 Cape Verde 77 965 97 1,121 4,033 239 278
  Spratly Islands — 926 <5 >200,000
 Nicaragua 78 910 80 1,915 119,990 7.58 16.0
 Gabon 79 885 72 2,019 257,667 3.43 7.84
 Nigeria 80 853 60 3,122 910,768 0.937 3.43
 Sudan 80 853 68 2,245 1,861,484[5] 0.458 1.21
 Honduras 82 832[Note 10] 82 1,878 111,890 7.44 16.8
 Mauritania 83 754 94 1,268 1,030,700 0.732 1.23
 Hong Kong — 733 — 955 1,054 695 906
 Timor-Leste 84 706 14,874 47.5
 British Indian Ocean Territory — 698 60 11,600
 Uruguay 85 660 98 1,096 175,015 3.77 6.26
 Cyprus 86 648 112 671 9,241 70.1 72.6
 Maldives 87 644 75 2,002 298 2,160 6,720
 Bangladesh 88 580 56 3,306 130,168 4.46 25.4
 Liberia 89 579 104 842 96,320 6.01 8.74
 Qatar 90 563 100 909 11,586 48.6 78.5
 Ghana 91 539 106 758 227,533 2.37 3.33
 Kenya 92 536 89 1,586 569,140 0.942 2.79
 Senegal 93 531 91 1,327 192,530 2.76 6.89
  Paracel Islands — 518 7.75 66,800
 Côte d'Ivoire 94 515 105 797 318,003 1.62 2.51
 Puerto Rico — 501 — 1,094 8,870 56.5 123
 Kuwait 95 499 107 756 17,818 28.0 42.4
 Latvia 96 498 116 566 62,249 8.00 9.09
 Seychelles 97 491 109 747 455 1,080 1,640
 Guyana 98 459 95 1,154 196,849 2.33 5.86
 Netherlands 99 451[Note 11] 81 1,914 33,893 13.3 56.5
 Cambodia 100 443 96 1,127 176,515 2.51 6.38
 Poland 101 440 99 1,032 312,679 1.41 3.30
 Tonga 102 419 101 909 717 584 1,270
 Samoa 103 403 120 463 2,821 143 164
 Cameroon 104 402 83 1,799 469,440 0.856 3.83
 Sierra Leone 104 402 86 1,677 71,620 5.61 23.4
 Guatemala 106 400 122 445 107,159 3.73 4.15
 Turks and Caicos Islands — 389 948 410
 Belize 107 386 76 1,996 22,806 16.9 87.5
 Suriname 107 386 114 620 156,000 2.47 3.97
 Marshall Islands 109 370.4 69 2,106 181 2,050 11,600
 Curacao — 364 444 820
 Albania 110 362 113 649 27,398 13.2 23.7
 Trinidad and Tobago 110 362 110 704 5,128 70.6 137
 Bulgaria 112 354 121 457 108,489 3.26 4.21
 Guinea-Bissau 113 350 57 3,176 28,120 12.4 113
 Comoros 114 340 119 469 2,235 152 210
 Guinea 115 320 87 1,615 245,717 1.30 6.57
 Djibouti 116 314 123 443 23,180 13.5 19.1
 Georgia 117 310 124 376 69,700 4.45 5.39
 El Salvador 118 307 108 756 20,721 14.8 36.5
 Equatorial Guinea 119 296 115 603 28,051 10.6 21.5
 Montenegro 120 293.5 13,452 21.8
 Israel 121 273 136 205 20,330 13.4 10.1
 Lebanon 122 225 125 294 10,230 22.0 28.7
 Romania 122 225 111 696 229,891 0.979 3.03
 São Tomé and Príncipe 124 209 128 269 964 217 279
 Malta 125 252.81 137 198 316 800 627
 Singapore 126 193 129 268 687 281 390
 Syria 126 193 134 212 183,630 1.05 1.15
 U.S. Virgin Islands — 188 — 390 346 543 1,130
 Mauritius 128 177 118 496 2,030 87.2 244
 Congo, Republic of the 129 169 135 205 341,500 0.495 0.600
 Bahrain 130 161 132 255 760 212 336
 Brunei 130 161 127 269 5,265 30.6 51.1
 Cayman Islands — 160 264 606
 Isle of Man — 160 572 280
 Saint Lucia 132 158 139 166 606 261 274
 Antigua and Barbuda 133 153 126 289 442.6 346 653
 Dominica 134 148 141 152 751 197 202
 Christmas Island — 138.9 135 1,030
 Saint Kitts and Nevis 135 135 261 517
 Wallis and Futuna — 129 142 908
 Guam — 125.5 544 231
 Jan Mayen — 124.1 377 329
 Benin 136 121 140 153 110,622 1.09 1.38
 Grenada 136 121 133 252 344 352 733
 Cook Islands 138 120 236 508
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon — 120 242 496
 American Samoa — 116 199 583
 Bermuda — 103 — 180 54 1,910 3,330
 Heard Island and McDonald Islands — 101.9 412 247
 Tokelau — 101 12 8,420
 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha — 100[Note 12] 308 325
 Barbados 139 97 143 97 430 226 226
 Lithuania 140 90 131 258 62,680 1.44 4.12
 United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges — 85.7 22.41 3,820
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 141 84 130 264 389 216 679
 Akrotiri and Dhekelia — 83.8 253.8[5] 330
 British Virgin Islands — 80 151 530
 Gambia 142 80 117 503 10,000 8.00 50.3
 Ashmore and Cartier Islands — 74.1 5 14,800
 Jersey — 70 116 603
 Aruba — 68.5 — 107 180 381 594
 Belgium 143 66.5 144 76 30,278 2.20 2.51
 Niue 144 64 260 246
 Anguilla — 61 91 670
 Saint Martin — 58.9[Note 13] 54.4 1,080
 Iraq 145 58 142 105 437,367 0.133 0.240
 Togo 146 56 145 53 54,385 1.03 0.975
 Pitcairn Islands — 51 47 1,090
 Guernsey — 50 78 641
 Slovenia 147 46.6 146 41 20,151 2.31 2.03
 Macau — 41 — 36 28.2 1,450 1,280
 Gaza Strip — 40 360 111
 Montserrat — 40 102 392
 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 148 37 138 177 2,267,048 0.0163 0.0781
 Norfolk Island — 32 36 889
 Nauru 149 30 21 1,430
 Bouvet Island — 29.6 49 604
 Cocos (Keeling) Islands — 26 14 1,860
 Jordan 150 26 147 27 88,802 0.293 0.304
 Tuvalu 151 24 26 923
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 152 20 148 23 51,187 0.391 0.449
 Wake Island — 19.3 6.5 2,970
 Gibraltar — 12 6.5 1,850
 Clipperton Island — 11.1 6 1,850
 Navassa Island — 8 5.4 1,480
 Monaco 153 4.1 2 2,050
 Saint Barthelemy — NA NA 21
 Sint Maarten — NA[Note 14] 34 0.0147
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands — NA 3,903 0.000128
 Kazakhstan 154 0[Note 15] 48 4,528 2,699,700 0 1.68
 Turkmenistan 154 0[Note 16] 93 1,289 469,930 0 2.74
 Azerbaijan 154 0[Note 17] 103 871 82,629 0 10.5
 Uzbekistan 154 0[Note 18] 85 1,707 425,400 0 4.01
 Afghanistan 154 0 149 0 652,230 0 0
 Andorra 154 0 468 0
 Armenia 154 0 149 0 28,203 0 0
 Austria 154 0 149 0 82,445 0 0
 Belarus 154 0 149 0 202,900 0 0
 Bhutan 154 0 149 0 38,394 0 0
 Bolivia 154 0 149 0 1,083,301 0 0
 Botswana 154 0 149 0 566,730 0 0
 Burkina Faso 154 0 149 0 273,800 0 0
 Burundi 154 0 149 0 25,680 0 0
 Central African Republic 154 0 149 0 622,984 0 0
 Chad 154 0 149 0 1,259,200 0 0
 Czech Republic 154 0 149 0 77,247 0 0
 Ethiopia 154 0 149 0 1,000,000 0 0
 Hungary 154 0 149 0 89,608 0 0
 Kyrgyzstan 154 0 149 0 191,801 0 0
 Laos 154 0 149 0 230,800 0 0
 Lesotho 154 0 149 0 30,355 0 0
 Liechtenstein 154 0 160 0
 Luxembourg 154 0 149 0 2,586 0 0
  1. REDIRECT Template:Country data North Macedonia || 154 || 0 || 149 || 0 || 25,433 || 0 || 0
 Malawi 154 0 149 0 94,080 0 0
 Mali 154 0 149 0 1,220,190 0 0
 Moldova 154 0 149 0 32,891 0 0
 Mongolia 154 0 149 0 1,553,556 0 0
   Nepal 154 0 149 0 143,351 0 0
 Niger 154 0 149 0 1,266,700 0 0
 Paraguay 154 0 149 0 397,302 0 0
 Rwanda 154 0 149 0 24,668 0 0
 San Marino 154 0 61 0
 Serbia 154 0 88,361 0
 Slovakia 154 0 149 0 48,105 0 0
 South Sudan 154 0 644,329[5] 0
 Swaziland 154 0 149 0 17,204 0 0
  Switzerland 154 0 149 0 39,997 0 0
 Tajikistan 154 0 149 0 141,510 0 0
 Uganda 154 0 149 0 197,100 0 0
  Vatican City 154 0 0.44 0
 West Bank — 0 5,640 0
 Zambia 154 0 149 0 743,398 0 0
 Zimbabwe 154 0 149 0 386,847 0 0
 French Guiana — 763
 Guadeloupe — 581
 Martinique — 369
 Netherlands Antilles — 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. ↑ 95 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries. For list, see reference below: "CIA World Factbook: Coastline".
  4. ↑ Greenland is an autonomous country within Denmark.
  5. ↑ According to the Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA), the Norwegian coastline, including fjords, islands and Svalbard, is as much as 100,915 km. Source: NMA. Statistics Norway report the same figures Land area and length of coastline.
  6. ↑ Includes coastline length for the Canary Islands.
  7. ↑ Excludes minor outlying islands.
  8. ↑ Iran has an additional 784 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked and Including 30 islands in the South and North Islands.
  9. ↑ Does not include Ile Saint-Paul and Iles Crozet (data unavailable) or Adelie Land claim to Antarctica.
  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. ↑ Excluding Ascension Island (data unavailable).
  13. ↑ Figure represents coastline of entire island, including Sint Maarten (administered by the Netherlands).
  14. ↑ Coastline included in figure for Saint Martin (administered by France).
  15. ↑ Kazakhstan has a coastline with the Aral and Caspian seas (both landlocked) with a total length of 2,964 km.
  16. ↑ Turkmenistan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,768 km.
  17. ↑ Azerbaijan has a 713-km coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
  18. ↑ Uzbekistan has a 420-km coastline along the Aral Sea, which is landlocked.

References

  1. ↑ Measuring the Size of Britains Coast (German): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/K%C3%BCstenl%C3%A4nge_Gro%C3%9Fbritanniens.pdf
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ CIA World Factbook: Coastline
  4. ↑ CIA World Factbook: Area
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Figure represents total area rather than land area.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Includes coastline of minor outlying islands.

Further reading

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