This is a list of countries by length of coastline, in kilometers, based on data for the year 2008 by the CIA World Factbook. A coastline of zero indicates that the country is landlocked

Landlocked

A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...

.

The coastline paradox

Coastline paradox

The coastline paradox is the counterintuitive observation that the coastline of a landmass does not have a well-defined length. This results from the fractal-like properties of coastlines. It was first observed by Lewis Fry Richardson....

 states that a coastline does not have a well-defined length. Measurements of the length of a coastline

How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension

"How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension" is a paper by mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot, first published in Science in 1967. In this paper Mandelbrot discusses self-similar curves that have Hausdorff dimension between 1 and 2...

 behave like a fractal

Fractal

A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...

, 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.The smaller the scale interval mathematically, the more detailed and the 'greater the scale of the map', in common usage. See scale (map)

Scale (map)

The scale of a map is defined as the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.If the region of the map is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, then the scale may be taken as a constant ratio over the whole map....

. This 'magnifying' effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones. For example, as seen on satellite image websites, the length of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's very convoluted coastline at a scale interval of 500 km is only about 20,000 km, less than a tenth of the value given in the table. On the other hand, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's coastline at 500 km intervals is about 12,500 km, around half the value in the table.

The coast/area 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

Maldives

The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

, or a country carved by the sea like Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, is more likely to have a high ratio, while a landlocked

Landlocked

A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...

 country like Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 will have a ratio of zero. Tokelau

Tokelau

Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400...

 has the highest ratio (10,100.000); the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 has the lowest nonzero ratio (0.016). Of countries without land borders, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 has the lowest ratio (3.381).

Note that the scales at which the CIA 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.

rank	territory	land area (km²)	coastline (km)	coast/area ratio (m/km²)
		148,940,000	356,000
1		9,093,507	202,080
2		1,811,569	54,716
	GreenlandGreenland is an autonomous Autonomous area An autonomous area or autonomous entity is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often...  country Constituent country Constituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity. The term constituent country does not have any defined legal meaning, and is used simply to refer to a country which is a part Constituent country is a phrase sometimes used in contexts...  within Denmark Kingdom of Denmark The Kingdom of Denmark or the Danish Realm , is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting of Denmark proper in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. Denmark is the hegemonial part, where the... .	2,166,086	44,087
3		16,377,742	37,653
4		298,170	36,289
5		364,485	29,751
6		7,682,300	25,760
7		304,282	25,148According to the Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) the norwegian coastline including fjords and islands the total length is as much as 100,915 km. See NMAs article (norwegian) here.
8		9,161,966	19,924
	Antarctica	14,000,000	17,968
9		267,710	15,134
10		9,569,901	14,500
11		130,647	13,676
12		241,930	13,400
13		1,943,945	9,330
14		294,140	7,600	26
15		8,459,417	7,491
16		42,434	7,314
17		769,632	7,200
18		2,973,193	7,000	2
19		743,812	6,435
20		702	6,112	8,710
21		55,974	5,835
22		27,986	5,313
23		452,860	5,152
24		2,736,690	4,989
25		100,250	4,970
26		498,980	4,964
27	Data includes Metropolitan France Metropolitan France Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...  and the five overseas regions.	640,427	4,853
28		581,540	4,828
29		328,657	4,675
30		42,388	3,794
31		109,820	3,735
	Svalbard	62,045	3,587
32		10,010	3,542
33		310,070	3,444Excludes minor outlying islands.
34		510,890	3,219
35		410,335	3,218
36		1,038,700	3,208
	Coral Sea Islands	<3	3,095	1,030,000>1,000,000
37		627,337	3,025
	French Southern Territories		Does not include Ile Saint-Paul Île Saint-Paul Île Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . It is located about southwest of the larger Île Amsterdam, and south of Réunion...  and Iles Crozet (data unavailable) or Adelie Land Adélie Land Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136° E and 142° E , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole. It is claimed by France as one of five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, although not...  claim to antarctica.	400
38		882,050	2,800
39		1,214,470	2,798
40		579,330	2,782
41		2,149,690	2,640
42		12,189	2,528
	French Polynesia	3,827	2,525
43		120,408	2,495
44		74,340	2,490
45		786,380	2,470
46		995,450	2,450
47		1,531,595	2,440Iran has an additional 740 km of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.
48		1,279,996	2,414
49		96,920	2,413
50		348,672	2,389
	New Caledonia	18,275	2,254
51		276,841	2,237
52		101,000	2,234
53		309,500	2,092
54		653,508	1,930
55		527,968	1,906
56		446,300	1,835
57		91,470	1,793
58		27,560	1,771
59		1,759,540	1,770
60		1,246,700	1,600
61		823,290	1,572
62		32,260
63		459	1,519	3,310
	Northern Mariana Islands	464	1,482	3,190
64		68,883	1,448
65		885,800	1,424
66		64,630	1,340
67		83,600	1,318
68		51,060	1,290
69		48,320	1,288
	Falkland Islands	12,173	1,288
70		303,815	1,250
71		155,360	1,148
72		811	1,143	1,410
73		18,274	1,129
	Faroe Islands	1,393	1,117
	Western Sahara	266,000	1,110
74		770,875	1,046
75		10,831	1,022
76		2,381,741	998
77		4,033	965	239
		<5	926	190,000≥200,000
78		119,990	910
79		257,667	885
80		910,768	853
80		1,861,484	853
82		111,890	832Includes coastline in the Gulf of Fonseca Gulf of Fonseca The Gulf of Fonseca , part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.-History:Fonseca Bay was discovered in 1522 by Gil Gonzalez de Avila, and named by him after his patron, Archbishop Juan Fonseca, the implacable enemy of Columbus.In 1849, E. G...  (163 km).
83		1,030,700	754
	Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China	1,054	733	695
84		14,874	706
	British Indian Ocean Territory	60	698	10,000
85		175,015	660
86		9,241	648
87		298	644	2,160
88		130,168	580
89		96,320	579
90		11,586	563
91		227,533	539
92		569,140	536
93		192,530	531
			518	66,800
94		318,003	515
	Puerto Rico	8,870	501
95		17,818	499
96		62,249	498
97		455	491	1,080
98		196,849	459
99		33,893	451In 1900, the Dutch coastline measured approximately 1400 km. It has significantly been reduced by the closing of the Zuiderzee by the Afsluitdijk Afsluitdijk The Afsluitdijk is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.It is...  in 1932 (250 km) and the closing of several sea arms by the Delta Works Delta Works The Delta Works is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta from the sea. The works consist of dams, sluices, locks, dikes, levees, and storm surge barriers...  (700 km).
100		176,515	443
101		304,255	440
102		717	419	584
103		2,821	403	143
104		469,440	402
104		71,620	402
106		107,159	400	4
	Turks and Caicos Islands	948	389	410
107		22,806	386
107		156,000	386
109		181		2,050
	Curaçao	444	364	820
110		27,398	362
110		5,128	362
112		108,489	354
113		28,120	350	12
114	Figures include Mayotte Mayotte Mayotte is an overseas department and region of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre , a smaller island, Petite-Terre , and several islets around these two. The archipelago is located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, namely between northwestern Madagascar and... , which is administered by France.	2,235	340	150
115		245,717	320
116		23,180	314
117		69,700	310
118		20,721	307
119		28,051	296
120		13,452
121		20,330	273
122		10,230	225
122		229,891	225
124		964	209	217
125		316		800
126		687	193	281
126		183,630	193
	United States Virgin Islands	346	188	543
128		2,030	177
129		341,500	169
130		760	161	210
130		5,265	161
	Cayman Islands	264	160	610
	Isle of Man	572	160	280
132		606	158	261
133			153	346
134		751	148	197
	Christmas Island	135		1,030
135		261	135	517
	Wallis and Futuna	142	129	908
	Guam	544		231
	Jan Mayen	377		329
136		110,622	121
136		344	121	352
		236	120	510
	Saint-Pierre and Miquelon	242	120	500
	American Samoa	199	116	583
	Bermuda	54	103	1,900
	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	412		247
	Tokelau	12	101	8,400
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	308	100Excluding Ascension Island (data unavailable).	400
138		430	97	230
139		62,680	90	1
	'			3,820
140		389	84	220
	Akrotiri and Dhekelia			330
	British Virgin Islands	151	80	500
141		10,000	80	8
	Ashmore and Cartier Islands	5		10,000
	Jersey	116	70	600
	Aruba	180		380
142		30,278
		260	64	250
	Anguilla	91	61	670
	Saint Martin (France)		Figure represents coastline of entire island, including Sint Maarten (administered by the Netherlands).	1,000
143		437,367	58
144		54,385	56
	Pitcairn Islands	47	51	1,100
	Guernsey	78	50	600
145		20,151
	Macau		41	1,500
	Gaza Strip	360	40	100
	Montserrat	102	40	400
146		2,267,048	37
	Norfolk Island	36	32	890
147		21	30	1,000
	Bouvet Island	49		610
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	14	26	1,900
148		88,802	26
149		26	24	920
150		51,187	20
	Wake Island			3,000
	Gibraltar		12	1,800
	Clipperton Island	6		2,000
	Navassa Island		8	1,000
151		2		2,000
	Saint Barthélemy	21	NA	NA
	Sint Maarten	34	NACoastline included in figure for Saint Martin Saint Martin Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between... (administered by France).	1,000
	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	3,903	NA	NA
152		2,699,700	0Kazakhstan has a coastline with the Aral and Caspian seas (both landlocked) with a total length of 2,964 km.	0
152		469,930	0Turkmenistan has a coastline with the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked, with a total length of 1,768 km.	0
152		82,629	0Azerbaijan has a 713-km coastline along the Caspian Sea, which is landlocked.	0
152		425,400	0Uzbekistan has a 420-km coastline refers with the Aral Sea, which is landlocked.	0
152		652,230	0	0
152		468	0	0
152		28,203	0	0
152		82,445	0	0
152		202,900	0	0
152		38,394	0	0
152		1,083,301	0	0
152		566,730	0	0
152		273,800	0	0
152		25,680	0	0
152		622,984	0	0
152		1,259,200	0	0
152		77,247	0	0
152		1,000,000	0	0
152		89,608	0	0
152	Republic of Kosovo	10,887	0	0
152		191,801	0	0
152		230,800	0	0
152		30,355	0	0
152		160	0	0
152		2,586	0	0
152		25,433	0	0
152		94,080	0	0
152		1,220,190	0	0
152		32,891	0	0
152		1,553,556	0	0
152		143,351	0	0
152		1,266,700	0	0
152		397,302	0	0
152		24,668	0	0
152		61	0	0
152		77,474	0	0
152		48,105	0	0
152		644,329	0	0
152		17,204	0	0
152		39,997	0	0
152		141,510	0	0
152		197,100	0	0
152			0	0
	West Bank	5,640	0	0
152		743,398	0	0
152		386,847	0	0