List of countries and dependencies by length of coastline
This article contains a list of countries and dependencies by length of coastline, in kilometers. Though the coastline paradox stipulates that coastlines do not have a well-defined length, there are various methods in use to measure coastlines through ratios and other metrics.[citation needed] A coastline of zero indicates that the country is landlocked.
Coastline paradox
The coastline paradox states that a coastline does not have a well-defined length. Measurements of the length of a coastline behave like a fractal, 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.[a] This "magnifying" effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones.
Data sources
Data marked The World Factbook or TWF is derived from the book published by the Central Intelligence Agency and covers 198 countries and 55 territories. Note that the scales at which The 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 necessarily not comparable across different countries.
Data marked World Resources Institute or WRI covers 182 independent countries and 13 dependencies, based on data calculated in 2000 from the World Vector Shoreline, United States Defense Mapping Agency, 1989. It may include territories whose status have changed. According to their technical notes,
"Coastline length was derived from the World Vector Shoreline database at 1:250,000 scale. The estimates (...) were calculated using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and an underlying database consistent for the entire world. The methodology used to estimate length is based on the following: 1) A country's coastline is made up of individual lines, and an individual line has two or more vertices and/or nodes. 2) The length between two vertices is calculated on the surface of a sphere. 3) The sum of the lengths of the pairs of vertices is aggregated for each individual line, and 4) the sum of the lengths of individual lines was aggregated for a country. In general, the coastline length of islands that are part of a country, but are not overseas territories, are included in the coastline estimate for that country (e.g., Canary Islands are included in Spain). Coastline length for overseas territories and dependencies are listed separately. Disputed areas are not included in country or regional totals."[1]
In addition to coastline lengths, The World Factbook is the source of the land area used to calculate the "coast/area ratio" for both coastline measurements. This ratio measures how many metres 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, or a country carved by the sea like Greece, is more likely to have a high ratio, while a landlocked country will have a ratio of zero.
List
Data are from the CIA World Factbook[2][3] and the World Resources Institute.[1] Non-sovereign areas are listed in italics.
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See also
- Coastal India
- Coastline of Brazil
- Coastline of China
- Coastline of Malta
- Coastline of New Zealand
- Coastline of the United Kingdom
- Coastline of Western Australia
- List of countries bordering on two or more oceans
- List of U.S. states by coastline
Notes
- ↑ The smaller the scale interval mathematically, the more detailed and the "greater the scale of the map", in common usage. See scale (map).
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Coastal and Marine Ecosystems — Marine Jurisdictions: Coastline length". World Resources Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ↑ "Coastline - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on January 15, 2026.
- ↑ "Field Listing :: Area — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". October 22, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22.
- ↑ "PIB India".
Further reading
- Eric Bird (2011). "1.5 Coastline length". Coastal Geomorphology: An Introduction. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-96435-3.
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