Topography
Number of Islands by Country 2025
- Significant differences exist between various countries’ definition of an island. The size, shape, location, word used to label it (islet, cay, etc), and elevation (especially whether it remains exposed or is regularly submerged by the tides) all influence whether a given landmass is considered an island or not
- The definition of “island” used by the source of the data displayed is “A landmass permanently above sea level either in an inland waterway or in the open sea. It is completely surrounded by water, but must not be a continent.”
Depending on a country’s geography, islands can be a hugely important part of their territory or a complete afterthought. A few, in particular, stand out for their exceptional numbers, both on the high or low end of the spectrum.
Top 10 Countries with the Most Islands
Sweden has the world’s most islands, with a jaw-dropping total of 267,570. However, only 984 (0.4%) are inhabited. Fellow Scandinavian nation Norway takes second place with 239,057, though just four have people living on them. Finland comes in third, home to 178,947 islands. Japan, a nation made up solely of islands, has the fourth most in the world, with 120,729 islands, 430 of which have residents. There’s a steep drop to Canada and Chile in fifth and sixth places (52,455 and 43,471, respectively), followed by another noteworthy drop to the United States with 18,617 islands. The top nations by island county are relatively evenly spread between Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The United States has the most inhabited islands (10,000), with Indonesia (6,000) and South Korea (2,876) in second and third.
Among nations with islands (excluding Nauru, a single-island nation), Dominica is lowest with three, followed by Barbados with four, and Tuvalu with nine. The former two countries have just one inhabited island, as does Azerbaijan (among 16 islands in total.) Among the bottom ten, none has more than 30 islands (North Macedonia), and none have more than nine inhabited ones (Tuvalu.) Many of the nations at the bottom of the list are islands themselves.
It’s vital to acknowledge that some nations’ counts may be estimates or incomplete. This is particularly true in areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where many small islands may not have been accurately counted. In other cases, the precise definition of what’s considered an island may vary from area to area and from count to count.
