Island nations
The 39 countries with no land border at all, from Australia, a continent to itself, to Nauru, a single island of 21 km², and the island countries left off because they share their island with a neighbour.
39 countriesAs of September 2026Short notes, not sourcedSuggest a correction
An island nation here means a country that shares no land border with any other. Most are islands or archipelagos, but the test is the border, not the sea: bridges, causeways and tunnels don’t count, while a border across the same island does.
They range from Australia and Japan to some of the smallest countries in the world, and many are in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Low-lying ones, like the Maldives, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, are among the countries most threatened by rising seas.
Asia and the Indian Ocean7
JapanFour main islands and about 14,000 smaller ones.
PhilippinesMore than 7,600 islands.
SingaporeJoined to Malaysia by a causeway and a bridge, which don’t count as a land border.
MaldivesAbout 1,200 coral islands, most no more than a metre or two above the sea, making it the lowest country in the world.
BahrainLinked to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, about 25 km long.
Africa6
MadagascarThe fourth-largest island in the world. Its wildlife, lemurs among it, evolved in isolation and is found nowhere else.
ComorosClaims Mayotte, the fourth island of the group, which voted to stay French.
Europe2
The Caribbean11
CubaThe largest island in the Caribbean.
BahamasAround 700 islands, only a few dozen of them inhabited.
Saint Kitts and NevisThe smallest country in the Americas.
Oceania13
AustraliaCounted as a continent rather than an island, but a country with no land border all the same.
TongaThe only Pacific island country never fully colonised: it was a British protected state from 1900 to 1970 but kept its own monarchy.
KiribatiIts islands spread over more than 3 million km² of ocean, across both hemispheres.
NauruOne island of about 21 km², the smallest island country in the world.
Close calls
Islands with a border
Some island countries share their island with a neighbour, so they aren’t counted: the United Kingdom and Ireland; Haiti and the Dominican Republic; Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, which share New Guinea and Timor; and Brunei, which shares Borneo with Malaysia and Indonesia.
Cyprus
Cyprus is an island, but it has a land border with the United Kingdom’s Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, so it isn’t on the list.
Denmark
Denmark’s only land border, with Germany, is on the Jutland peninsula, even though most Danes live on islands.
More country lists
- Amazon rainforest countries
- Andean countries
- Arab League member states
- Arctic Ocean countries
- ASEAN member countries
- Atlantic Ocean countries
- Baltic Sea countries
- Black Sea countries
- BRICS member countries
- Caribbean Sea countries
- Commonwealth member countries
- Countries in the Arctic Circle
- Countries in the European Union
- Countries of the former Yugoslavia
- Countries on the Equator
- Countries that drive on the left
- Countries that use the euro
- Countries with a monarch
- Countries with nuclear weapons
- Danube countries
- FIFA World Cup host countries
- Former Soviet republics
- G20 member countries
- Indian Ocean countries
- Landlocked countries
- Mediterranean countries
- Mekong countries
- NATO member countries
- OECD member countries
- OPEC member countries
- Pacific Ocean countries
- Persian Gulf countries
- Red Sea countries
- Sahara Desert countries
- Schengen Area countries
- Summer Olympics host countries
- Winter Olympics host countries