Country Coastline Length Quiz

Coastline length is famously difficult to measure — it's a fractal, so the answer depends on the resolution of your map. The CIA World Factbook uses a standardized methodology so countries can be compared. Canada leads the world with 202,080 km of coastline, the vast majority of it Arctic.

Indonesia's 17,000 islands

Indonesia is second on the list with around 54,716 km thanks to its archipelago. Russia, the Philippines, and Japan complete the top five. Forty-four countries are landlocked and have a coastline of zero. The Vatican has no coastline; San Marino has no coastline; Bolivia famously lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific and still maintains a navy.

Did you know?

• Canada has the longest coastline of any country — over 200,000 km counting all its Arctic islands.
• Norway's mainland coastline would stretch more than halfway around the equator if straightened.
• Sixteen countries are landlocked twice over — landlocked by countries that are themselves landlocked.
• The shape of the British Isles' coastline became a famous mathematical paradox: it has no single "true" length.
• Indonesia and the Philippines together account for more than 13,000 inhabited islands.
• Greece's coastline including islands stretches over 13,000 km — most of any European country.
• Australia has 35,877 km of mainland coastline and beaches on three different oceans.
• Russia's coastline is the longest of any country in the Northern Hemisphere if you count just the mainland.
• Japan's coastline is over 29,000 km despite the country being smaller than California.
• Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly-landlocked countries in the world.
• Cyprus has more coastline relative to its area than any other Mediterranean country.
• The Maldives' coastline is almost entirely beach — most of the country is at or near sea level.
• Mexico has 9,000+ km of coastline split between the Pacific and Atlantic.
• Iceland's coastline shifts each year as its glaciers retreat and new beaches are exposed.
• Bangladesh has the world's largest river delta on the Bay of Bengal — the Sundarbans.

Read more

Which country really has the longest coastline? — Canada's coast is longer than the next three countries combined — and the honest answer to "how long is it?" is that it depends on your ruler.

Where the data comes from

Every figure in this category is drawn from CIA World Factbook coastline length. Data is refreshed quarterly; if a number looks wrong, tell us and we will check the source.