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
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24 Comments
+6
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?!
+2
Level ∞
Apr 19, 2019
Maybe
+2
Level 24
Feb 6, 2022
CIA Factbook maybe
+4
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.

+4
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.
+5
Level 85
Apr 19, 2019
+4
Level 76
Apr 24, 2019
How about submitting your information to Wikipedia?
+2
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.
+1
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.
+3
Level 22
Feb 11, 2020
I'm surprised Federated States of Micronesia is that low. It has so many atolls
+2
Level 64
Mar 9, 2021
it tiny
+3
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'.
+2
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.
+1
Level 69
Nov 7, 2024
Jedi the Yoda is having a stronk. ambulance call
+3
Level 75
Mar 13, 2022
497km for Gambia seems ridiculously excessive. The country is only about 60km wide North to South.
+5
Level 64
Mar 30, 2022
the river extends very far, so it is like a mini senegal inside of senegal
+2
Level 53
Jun 28, 2022
Still can't believe Philippines has longer coastline than China
+2
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.

+2
Level 63
Mar 2, 2024
Is Crimea included under Ukraine or under Russia?
+1
Level 62
Mar 22, 2024
thats a good question actually
+1
Level 66
Aug 18, 2024
Probably Russia, considering that’s the official Jetpunk stance.
+1
Level 55
Dec 19, 2024
I find it hard to believe that the UK has a longer perimeter than NZ
+1
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.