The countries with the most neighbours

The top of the table

China and Russia tie with 14 each.^[1] China's run from North Korea round to Afghanistan, by way of Vietnam, the Himalayas and Central Asia; Russia's from Norway to North Korea, with Lithuania and Poland reached only through Kaliningrad, Russia's exclave on the Baltic.^[1][2] The two border each other, and three countries border both: Kazakhstan, Mongolia and North Korea.^[1]

France comes third with 11, but only eight are in Europe.^[1] French Guiana, an overseas region of France in South America, adds Brazil and Suriname, and the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, split between France and the Netherlands, adds the Netherlands.^[2]

#	Country	Neighbours
1	China	14
2	Russia	14
3	France	11
4	Brazil	10
5	DR Congo	9
6	Germany	9
7	Austria	8
8	Serbia	8
9	Tanzania	8
10	Türkiye	8
11	Zambia	8
12	Hungary	7
13	Iran	7
14	Mali	7
15	Niger	7
16	Poland	7
17	Saudi Arabia	7
18	Sudan	7
19	Ukraine	7

The most border, in kilometres

Ranked by the total length of their land borders instead, China still leads, with 17,262 km on our map, and Russia is close behind at 16,600 km.^[2] Canada shows how the two rankings differ: only two neighbours, but its one long border with the United States puts it in the top ten.^[2][1]

#	Country	Land border on the map
1	China	17,262 km
2	Russia	16,600 km
3	Brazil	11,245 km
4	Kazakhstan	10,286 km
5	United States	10,279 km
6	India	9,627 km
7	DR Congo	8,594 km
8	Argentina	7,836 km
9	Canada	7,801 km
10	Mongolia	7,019 km

Just one

Fifteen countries have exactly one land neighbour.^[1] Three of them are surrounded by it on every side: Lesotho, San Marino and Vatican City, enclaves inside South Africa and Italy.^[2] Others share an island with their one neighbour: Haiti and the Dominican Republic split Hispaniola, Ireland shares its island with the United Kingdom, and Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea each share theirs with Indonesia.^[2] Cyprus's only land neighbour is the United Kingdom, through the British bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.^[1]

The United Kingdom has three, and two of them are reached through its territories: Cyprus through Akrotiri and Dhekelia and Spain through Gibraltar.^[1][2] Without them, it would be on this list too.^[2]

#	Country	Only neighbour
1	Brunei	Malaysia
2	Cyprus	United Kingdom
3	Dominican Republic	Haiti
4	Gambia	Senegal
5	Haiti	Dominican Republic
6	Ireland	United Kingdom
7	Lesotho	South Africa
8	Monaco	France
9	Papua New Guinea	Indonesia
10	Portugal	Spain
11	Qatar	Saudi Arabia
12	San Marino	Italy
13	South Korea	North Korea
14	Timor-Leste	Indonesia
15	Vatican City	Italy

None at all

In all, 39 countries have no land border with anyone.^[1] All of them are islands or groups of islands, from Australia, Japan and Madagascar down to Nauru and Tuvalu.^[2] Bahrain and Singapore sit just off Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, but they are islands, and the border graph doesn't count bridges or causeways.^[2][1]