The number of land borders a country has shapes its history, its trade routes and its security policy. Here is the ranking, and the opposite extreme.
The most-bordered countries
- China — 14: Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea.
- Russia — 14 land neighbours (16 if the partially recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia are counted): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea.
- Brazil — 10: every country in South America except Chile and Ecuador.
- Germany, France, Austria, Serbia, Tanzania, Turkey and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — all with 8 or 9 land borders each.
- Zambia — 8; Sudan — 7; Poland, Ukraine, Iran and Saudi Arabia — 7 each.
France's total depends on whether you count its overseas departments: metropolitan France borders 8 countries in Europe, but including French Guiana (which borders Brazil and Suriname) and Saint Martin (which borders the Dutch side of the island), France technically touches 11.
Countries with no land border
About 46 UN member states have no land border at all. Most are island nations — Iceland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia (which does have land borders, so not this group), Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Cuba, Jamaica, New Zealand, Fiji and the rest of the Pacific and Caribbean. Australia is on the list too, as the only continent-sized country with no land neighbour. See the full island countries list.
The enclaved states
Three countries have exactly one neighbour, because they are entirely surrounded by it: San Marino and Vatican City are both enclaved within Italy, and Lesotho is enclaved within South Africa. A country completely surrounded by a single other country is an "enclaved state" — see enclaves and exclaves explained.
Some borders barely exist
The shortest international border in the world runs about 85 metres, between Botswana and Zambia at a single point in the middle of the Zambezi River (the two countries meet at a spot that also nearly touches Namibia and Zimbabwe). Spain and Morocco share a land border only at the tiny enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast.
Every UN member state with no land border, in one place, from Iceland to Fiji plus Australia.
See the border-free list →