Geography basics · 4 min
Countries that border the most neighbours
Which countries touch the most others, which touch just one, and how islands change the count.
Geography basics
Counting neighbours
A country's neighbours are the countries it shares a land border with. Sea borders don't count, so two countries facing each other across a strait are not neighbours.
Big countries in the middle of continents tend to have the most. Islands have none at all.
Lesson notes
Everything from the cards above, on one page to come back to.
Counting neighbours
A country's neighbours are the countries it shares a land border with. Sea borders don't count, so two countries facing each other across a strait are not neighbours.
Big countries in the middle of continents tend to have the most. Islands have none at all.
Only one neighbour
Some countries have exactly one: Canada (the United States), Portugal (Spain), Ireland (the United Kingdom), Denmark (Germany), Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the tiny ones inside Italy, San Marino and Vatican City.
Around 40 countries in MapGO's data have no land border at all, from Japan and Iceland to Australia and New Zealand.
Territories change the answer
France has 8 neighbours in Europe. Count French Guiana, an overseas part of France in South America, and Brazil and Suriname join the list.
In fact most measurements make France's longest land border the one with Brazil, just ahead of its border with Spain.
Questions
Which country has the most neighbours?
China and Russia, with 14 land neighbours each.
Which countries have only one neighbour?
Among them Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, San Marino and Vatican City.