Red Sea countries
The eight countries on the Red Sea, the long, narrow sea between Africa and Arabia that joins the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean through the Bab-el-Mandeb.
8 countriesAs of September 2026Short notes, not sourcedSuggest a correction
The Red Sea is about 2,250 km long and at most about 355 km wide. It fills a rift where Africa and Arabia are slowly pulling apart, and will one day be an ocean. At its north end it splits into the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, and at its south end the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, about 30 km wide, leads to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
It is one of the saltiest seas in the world, since little rain falls and no big river flows into it, and it has some of the most northerly coral reefs, which cope with heat better than most. Since the Suez Canal opened in 1869, it has been one of the busiest shipping routes between Europe and Asia.
The African shore4
EgyptHolds the Suez Canal, and resorts like Hurghada on the mainland and Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula.
SudanPort Sudan is its main port, and the Sanganeb reef off it is a World Heritage Site.
EritreaHas the Dahlak Archipelago, and one of the hottest inhabited coastlines in the world.
DjiboutiSits on the Bab-el-Mandeb, and several foreign navies, the United States and China among them, have bases there.
The Arabian shore4
Saudi ArabiaHas the longest Red Sea coast. Jeddah, the port for the pilgrims to Mecca, is on it.
YemenSits on the other side of the Bab-el-Mandeb. Attacks on shipping from Yemen from 2023 forced many ships to sail round Africa instead.
JordanIts only coast is about 26 km at Aqaba, on the Gulf of Aqaba.
IsraelIts only Red Sea coast is at Eilat, about 12 km long, on the Gulf of Aqaba.
Close calls
Somalia and Ethiopia
Somalia’s coast starts on the Gulf of Aden, beyond the Bab-el-Mandeb, so it counts for the Indian Ocean instead. Ethiopia lost its Red Sea coast when Eritrea became independent in 1993, and has been landlocked since.
Palestine
The Gulf of Aqaba’s shores belong to Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Palestine has no coast on it.
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