This is a list of countries that have a land border with only one other country. Some on this list have a maritime border with additional countries. Some countries, which are not listed here, have no land border but do have a maritime border with a single other country, such as Sri Lanka.
There are generally three arrangements by which a country would have a single land border:
Territory leased or ceded by one country to another for perpetual use, but not in sovereignty, such as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, or memorials, such as the American Cemetery in France, do not constitute true territorial borders because the land occupied remains a formal part of the host country.
This list is based on the Correlates of War Direct Contiguity data set, with maritime causeways and bridges not being counted. [1]
Country | Neighbour | Border length | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
km | mi | |||
Lesotho | South Africa | 909 | 565 | Lesotho is an enclave which is entirely surrounded by South Africa. |
San Marino | Italy | 39 | 24 | San Marino is an enclave entirely surrounded by Italy. |
Vatican City | 3.2 | 2.0 | The Vatican City is an enclave entirely surrounded by Rome, Italy. |
Country | Neighbour | Border length | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
km | mi | |||
Brunei | Malaysia | 381 | 237 | Borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. |
Dominican Republic | Haiti | 360 | 220 | On the island of Hispaniola |
The Gambia | Senegal | 740 | 460 | The Republic of the Gambia is bordered to the north, south and east by Senegal. |
Haiti | Dominican Republic | 360 | 220 | On the island of Hispaniola |
Republic of Ireland | United Kingdom | 360 | 220 | The Republic of Ireland borders the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland region on the island of Ireland. |
Monaco | France | 4.4 | 2.7 | |
Papua New Guinea | Indonesia | 820 | 510 | On the island of New Guinea |
Portugal | Spain | 1,214 | 754 | |
Qatar | Saudi Arabia | 60 | 37 | The planned Qatar–Bahrain Causeway would connect Qatar to Bahrain. |
South Korea | North Korea | 238 | 148 | On the Korean Peninsula, at the Demarcation Line. The two countries are separated by a 4 km wide Demilitarized Zone. Both Koreas claim the Korean Peninsula. |
Timor-Leste | Indonesia | 228 | 142 | On the island of Timor. |
United Kingdom | Republic of Ireland | 360 | 220 | On the island of Ireland. The British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia border Spain and Cyprus respectively, but these territories are not part of the United Kingdom proper (see #Dependent territories section). |
Often called fixed crossings or fixed links, transportation corridors constructed to cross bodies of water without any intermittent connections such as ferries or ships may be between different states. These may be considered artificial "persistent" borderpoints for land vehicles or pedestrians, but are not typically considered land borders given their need for continuous operation and maintenance, as well as their ease of volume control or closure by either state. Two countries are islands and have no land borders, but maintain fixed borderpoints with other nations.
Country | Land neighbour | Borderpoint neighbour | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | Republic of Ireland | France | In addition to its border with Ireland, has a fixed link with France in the Channel Tunnel. |
Denmark | Germany | Sweden | In addition to its border with Germany, has a fixed link with Sweden across the Øresund Bridge. |
Bahrain | None, Since Bahrain is an island. | Saudi Arabia | Although an island nation with no natural land borders, Bahrain maintains persistent connection to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway at Passport Island. |
Singapore | None, Since Singapore is cut off by a strait. (Specifically, the Strait of Johor.) | Malaysia | Although an island nation with no natural land borders, Singapore maintains persistent connections to Malaysia by the Johor Causeway and the Malaysia–Singapore Second Link. |
Liechtenstein | Austria | Switzerland | In addition to its land border with Austria, Liechtenstein has five bridges crossing the river Rhine to Switzerland. |
In some cases, a dependent territory of one nation borders another nation.
Territory | Sovereignty | Neighbour | Border length | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
km | ||||
Akrotiri and Dhekelia | United Kingdom | Cyprus | 108 | British sovereign base areas, border the Republic of Cyprus. Dhekelia also borders the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, but the latter is recognised only by Turkey. |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands | France | Australia | Adélie Land, France's (largely unrecognised) claim in Antarctica borders only the Australian Antarctic Territory. (It also touches other claims at the South Pole.) | |
Gibraltar | United Kingdom | Spain | 1.2 | A British overseas territory, occupies a small peninsula and has a 1.2 km (0.75 mi) land border with Spain. Spain claims some of Gibraltar as its own territory. |
Greenland | Kingdom of Denmark | Canada | 1,280 m | A constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland had a border dispute with Canada regarding uninhabited Hans Island. The island is located in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait (between Canada's Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland), which constitutes the agreed maritime border. On June 11, 2022, both countries signed an agreement to split the island, which will come into effect as soon as the parliaments of Canada, Denmark, Greenland, and Nunavut ratify it. [2] |
Ross Dependency | New Zealand | Australia | New Zealand's (largely unrecognised) territorial claim in Antarctica borders only the Australian Antarctic Territory and the unclaimed Marie Byrd Land. (It also touches other claims at the South Pole.) | |
Saint Martin | France | Kingdom of the Netherlands | 16 | The island is split between two island territories: the northern half, Saint-Martin, is a French overseas collectivity; the southern half, Sint Maarten, is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. |
Sint Maarten | Kingdom of the Netherlands | France |
Many countries historically had only one neighbour. Some no longer exist while others now have either no land borders or borders with more than one nation due to border changes.
Bophuthatswana, officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana, was a Bantustan that was declared (nominally) independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1977. However, its independence, like the other Bantustans of Ciskei, Transkei and Venda was not recognized by any country other than South Africa.
The Russian Far East is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is administered as a part of the Far Eastern Federal District, which is located between Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The area's largest city is Khabarovsk, followed by Vladivostok. The region shares land borders with the countries of Mongolia, China, and North Korea to its south, as well as maritime boundaries with Japan to its southeast, and with the United States along the Bering Strait to its northeast.
A Bantustan was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa, as a part of its policy of apartheid.
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it [regardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity]." The term is often politically, economically and/or demographically more significant than politically associated remote territories, such as exclaves or oceanic islands situated outside the continental shelf.
A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie solely on endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked, and three landlocked de facto states as of 2024. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country, while Ethiopia is the world's most populous landlocked country.
Venda or Tswetla, officially the Republic of Venda, was a Bantustan in northern South Africa. It was fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while, to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the Limpopo province. Venda was founded by the South African government as a homeland for the Venda people, speakers of the Venda language. The United Nations and international community refused to recognise Venda as an independent state.
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. EEZ does not define the ownership of any maritime features within the EEZ.
A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, lakes or seas. On dry land, the exact tripoints may be indicated by markers or pillars, and occasionally by larger monuments.
An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. Such territory can be a small territory as part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. Enclave is sometimes used improperly to denote a territory that is only partly surrounded by another state. Many enclaves are also exclaves, but some are not, for example Vatican City and San Marino and Lesotho are completely enclaved sovereign states.
The history of post-confederation Canada began on July 1, 1867, when the British North American colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were united to form a single Dominion within the British Empire. Upon Confederation, the United Province of Canada was immediately split into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The colonies of Prince Edward Island and British Columbia joined shortly after, and Canada acquired the vast expanse of the continent controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company, which was eventually divided into new territories and provinces. Canada evolved into a fully sovereign state by 1982.
The territorial conquests of the Empire of Japan in the Western Pacific Ocean and East Asia began in 1895 with its victory over Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Subsequent victories over the Russian Empire and German Empire expanded Japanese rule to Taiwan, Korea, Micronesia, southern Sakhalin, several concessions in China, and the South Manchuria Railway. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, resulting in the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo the following year; thereafter, Japan adopted a policy of founding and supporting puppet states in conquered regions. These conquered territories became the basis for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1940.
The Japan–Russia border is the de facto maritime boundary that separates the territorial waters of the two countries. According to the Russia border agency, the border's length is 194.3 km (120.7 mi).
The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of unsuccessful U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black homelands created in apartheid-era South Africa, and are thus referred to as bantustans. They have been referred to figuratively as the Palestinian archipelago, among other terms. The de facto status in 2024 is that Israel controls all area outside these enclaves.