Countries by Coastline

Methodology
Notes
All 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

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

24 Comments

Level 78

Apr 19, 2019

Wow! I wish I knew how to do such scripts... can you calculate the length of lake shorelines of each country?!

Level ∞

Apr 19, 2019

Maybe

Level 24

Feb 6, 2022

CIA Factbook maybe

Level 85

Apr 19, 2019

It looks like the numbers are downgraded compared to the usual numbers. Local info is of course pretty much useless for comparison, so just as curiosity:

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.

Level ∞

Apr 19, 2019

This list is not perfect, that's for sure. But I trust the data since I know where it came from. Other lists seem like they draw data from different sources that use different methodologies.

Level 85

Apr 19, 2019

How Long Is the Coast of Britain? - interactive map

Level 76

Apr 24, 2019

How about submitting your information to Wikipedia?

Level 68

Jun 11, 2019

If you look at this list: https://web.archive.org/web/20120419075053/http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/coastal-marine/variable-61.html you will see that they do not draw data from different sources that use different methodologies, which you will find out if you check their technical notes.

Level ∞

Jun 11, 2019

This appears to be an archived version of a low-authority site that appears at first glance to have the same data as the World Factbook and references a 1989 U.S. military map with no notes on how the shoreline was calculated. But, wait, it's not the same as the World Factbook. Check Denmark, for example. We still have no idea how the World Factbook gets its numbers.

Level 22

Feb 11, 2020

I'm surprised Federated States of Micronesia is that low. It has so many atolls

Level 64

Mar 9, 2021

it tiny

Level 63

Oct 2, 2021

Thank you for the source! When it says 'it, is in my opinion' in the last note, it should say 'it is, in my opinion'.

Level 25

Nov 27, 2021

Do all guys you want with methodic about coastline measurement, my country just hasn't it

+10

Level 74

Jan 10, 2022

I think Yoda's having a stroke.

Level 69

Nov 7, 2024

Jedi the Yoda is having a stronk. ambulance call

Level 75

Mar 13, 2022

497km for Gambia seems ridiculously excessive. The country is only about 60km wide North to South.

Level 64

Mar 30, 2022

the river extends very far, so it is like a mini senegal inside of senegal

Level 53

Jun 28, 2022

Still can't believe Philippines has longer coastline than China

Level 64

Aug 10, 2023

Do you recall if the calculations you’ve made for Ukraine (and Russia) include the Syvash Sea coastline?

I’m trying to figure out if those lagoons are considered inland water or not.

Thanks.

Level 63

Mar 2, 2024

Is Crimea included under Ukraine or under Russia?

Level 62

Mar 22, 2024

thats a good question actually

Level 66

Aug 18, 2024

Probably Russia, considering that’s the official Jetpunk stance.

Level 55

Dec 19, 2024

I find it hard to believe that the UK has a longer perimeter than NZ

Level 93

Apr 24, 2025

Remember, there will be substantial variations every six hours or so as the tide rises and falls. This however pales into insignificance when compared to the primary problem with determining lengths of coastline - that of scale. If you use reference points (joined by straight lines) that are, say 100 metres apart, you will get a vastly different answer than if you use reference points 50 metres apart. Of course, the bendier the coastline the more this effect is amplified. It could even be the case that if you use a small enough distance between reference points that the total distance approaches infinity! Imagine zooming in on the edge of a 30cm ruler to, say 10 micron intervals, it would be much longer than 30cm.

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.