Countries by Coastline
Methodology
This is based on original research by me, the JetPunk quizmaster. I wrote a script to calculate the coastline of each country based on this original data source from Natural Earth.
Notes
- This does not include lakeshore
- It does, however, include oceanic seas and inlets such as the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Puget Sound, etc..
- It does not include the Caspian Sea
- The coastline for Israel does not include Gaza
- The coastline for each country includes overseas regions, dependencies, and autonomous areas. For example, the number for Denmark includes Greenland.
- The length of coastline depends on the resolution of the data source. The higher the resolution, the longer the coastline.
- The source data is not 100% perfectly accurate but it is, in my opinion, the best data source available
All Countries by Coastline
copied!
| Kilometers | Country |
|---|---|
| 137,000 | Canada |
| 73,100 | Russia |
| 69,500 | United States |
| 52,500 | Indonesia |
| 48,800 | Denmark |
| 34,100 | Australia |
| 31,300 | Chile |
| 27,400 | Norway |
| 18,700 | Brazil |
| 17,300 | Philippines |
| 16,800 | China |
| 16,700 | United Kingdom |
| 15,600 | Mexico |
| 15,500 | Japan |
| 12,200 | France |
| 11,200 | Papua New Guinea |
| 11,000 | India |
| 10,300 | New Zealand |
| 9,480 | Greece |
| 6,520 | Sweden |
| 6,330 | Myanmar |
| 6,020 | Italy |
| 5,910 | Argentina |
| 5,850 | Turkey |
| 5,780 | Vietnam |
| 5,750 | Cuba |
| 5,480 | Venezuela |
| 5,440 | Madagascar |
| 5,270 | Malaysia |
| 5,200 | Iceland |
| 5,010 | Spain |
| 4,860 | South Korea |
| 4,500 | Solomon Islands |
| 4,190 | Finland |
| 4,020 | Saudi Arabia |
| 3,870 | Thailand |
| 3,840 | Mozambique |
| 3,790 | Egypt |
| 3,780 | Bahamas |
| 3,560 | Colombia |
| 3,450 | Ireland |
| 3,380 | Panama |
| 3,150 | Bangladesh |
| 3,070 | South Africa |
| 2,900 | Ukraine |
| 2,730 | Croatia |
| 2,710 | Morocco |
| 2,660 | Germany |
| 2,660 | Iran |
| 2,650 | Peru |
| 2,610 | Fiji |
| 2,590 | Ecuador |
| 2,540 | Yemen |
| 2,440 | Somalia |
| 2,290 | Oman |
| 2,270 | Vanuatu |
| 2,190 | Nigeria |
| 2,140 | North Korea |
| 2,120 | Portugal |
| 1,990 | Sri Lanka |
| 1,920 | Guinea-Bissau |
| 1,910 | Tanzania |
| 1,900 | Gabon |
| 1,890 | Angola |
| 1,780 | Libya |
| 1,510 | Honduras |
| 1,510 | Namibia |
| 1,490 | Estonia |
| 1,470 | Haiti |
| 1,450 | Costa Rica |
| 1,450 | Pakistan |
| 1,420 | Eritrea |
| 1,390 | Tunisia |
| 1,370 | Nicaragua |
| 1,360 | Netherlands |
| 1,290 | Dominican Republic |
| 1,280 | Ivory Coast |
| 1,270 | Taiwan |
| 1,260 | Senegal |
| 1,250 | United Arab Emirates |
| 1,200 | Algeria |
| 1,170 | Kiribati |
| 1,010 | Mauritania |
| 975 | Sierra Leone |
| 879 | Guinea |
| 868 | Uruguay |
| 825 | Guyana |
| 824 | Kenya |
| 807 | Cape Verde |
| 795 | Cambodia |
| 789 | Cameroon |
| 785 | Belize |
| 735 | Sudan |
| 702 | East Timor |
| 677 | Poland |
| 641 | Jamaica |
| 608 | Suriname |
| 606 | Liberia |
| 590 | Ghana |
| 561 | Cyprus |
| 543 | Qatar |
| 523 | Latvia |
| 519 | Maldives |
| 513 | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 497 | Gambia |
| 495 | Equatorial Guinea |
| 483 | Kuwait |
| 469 | Romania |
| 457 | El Salvador |
| 456 | Albania |
| 406 | Marshall Islands |
| 405 | Guatemala |
| 391 | Seychelles |
| 346 | Tonga |
| 345 | Federated States of Micronesia |
| 343 | Comoros |
| 342 | Samoa |
| 338 | Bulgaria |
| 319 | Djibouti |
| 308 | Georgia |
| 275 | Palau |
| 250 | Mauritius |
| 227 | Lebanon |
| 216 | Lithuania |
| 211 | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| 200 | Israel |
| 185 | Brunei |
| 185 | Sao Tome and Principe |
| 178 | Antigua and Barbuda |
| 176 | Republic of the Congo |
| 176 | Syria |
| 167 | Montenegro |
| 136 | Bahrain |
| 135 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| 128 | Dominica |
| 121 | Benin |
| 114 | Grenada |
| 108 | Malta |
| 107 | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| 107 | Saint Lucia |
| 97 | Singapore |
| 95 | Belgium |
| 91 | Iraq |
| 90 | Barbados |
| 78 | Tuvalu |
| 50 | Togo |
| 27 | Slovenia |
| 27 | Jordan |
| 20 | Nauru |
| 18 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 7 | Monaco |
| 0 | Afghanistan |
| 0 | Andorra |
| 0 | Armenia |
| 0 | Austria |
| 0 | Azerbaijan |
| 0 | Belarus |
| 0 | Bhutan |
| 0 | Bolivia |
| 0 | Botswana |
| 0 | Burkina Faso |
| 0 | Burundi |
| 0 | Central African Republic |
| 0 | Chad |
| 0 | Czech Republic |
| 0 | Eswatini |
| 0 | Ethiopia |
| 0 | Hungary |
| 0 | Kazakhstan |
| 0 | Kosovo |
| 0 | Kyrgyzstan |
| 0 | Laos |
| 0 | Lesotho |
| 0 | Liechtenstein |
| 0 | Luxembourg |
| 0 | Malawi |
| 0 | Mali |
| 0 | Moldova |
| 0 | Mongolia |
| 0 | Nepal |
| 0 | Niger |
| 0 | North Macedonia |
| 0 | Paraguay |
| 0 | Rwanda |
| 0 | San Marino |
| 0 | Serbia |
| 0 | Slovakia |
| 0 | South Sudan |
| 0 | Switzerland |
| 0 | Tajikistan |
| 0 | Turkmenistan |
| 0 | Uganda |
| 0 | Uzbekistan |
| 0 | Vatican City |
| 0 | Zambia |
| 0 | Zimbabwe |
Croatian sources say 526 km in a straight line, 1777 along the mainland coast and 5835 km with islands (74% of Adriatic coast)
Slovenia is usually given between 42 and 48, most often as 46.6 km. Especially when it's so small, it's easy to look at a detailed map or satelite photo and wonder why this bay or that wouldn't be included – in this blog you can see an image illustrating how you can arrive at different values. Further complicated (at this scale) by the port piers/docks and salt ponds.
I’m trying to figure out if those lagoons are considered inland water or not.
Thanks.
My point is, there isn’t really a definitive answer to the question of how long a coastline is - it depends entirely on the method you choose to employ, which might explain a lot of the discrepancies QM has observed.