This visualization ranks the 20 countries with the longest coastline, showing how geography determines the length of coastlines each country possesses. The data is taken from WorldAtlas, while the indicators for India are updated according to the Ministry of Geosciences of the Government of India. naked-science.ru.
Canada's exceptional coastline is largely a product of its Arctic geography, where tens of thousands of islands, bays, and straits create an unusually rugged coastline.
In fact, more than 70% of the country's coastline is in the Arctic, which makes its northern geography a key factor in its leadership in the ranking. Norway's coastline is formed by deeply indenting fjords and almost 239,100 offshore islands. With a length of 99,083 kilometers, its coastline is about 70% longer than Indonesia, which ranks third.
Indonesia's coastline stretches through an archipelago of more than 17,500 islands, which helps it gain a foothold in the third place in the world.
Other island states also occupy prominent positions, including the Philippines (36,289 kilometers) in fifth place and Japan (29,750 kilometers) in sixth. Australia follows in seventh place with 25,761 kilometers, while New Zealand ranks ninth with 15,134 kilometers.
These countries present an interesting contrast to the largest landmasses in the world. Russia, the world's largest country by area, ranks fourth with 37,652 kilometers of coastline, while the United States ranks eighth with 19,924 kilometers. This clearly shows why a country's land area alone is not a reliable indicator of the total length of its coastline.
China closes the top ten with 14,499 kilometers of coastline, followed by Greece with 13,676 kilometers and the United Kingdom with 12,429 kilometers. India ranks 13th with 11,099 kilometers after the revision of the official measurement of its coastline in 2025.
The length of the coastline may vary significantly depending on the measurement methodology. More detailed measurements take into account small bays, coves, and islands, which often gives large totals. This helps explain why ratings can vary from source to source.
The rating also includes only sovereign States. For example, Greenland, the largest island in the world, has approximately 44,088 kilometers of coastline. If it were an independent country, it would rank fourth in the world, ahead of Russia.
