List of countries that border only one other country

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Template:Short description This is a list of sovereign state that have a land border with only one other. Some on this list have a maritime border with additional countries. Some which are not listed here have no land border but do have a maritime border with a single other state; an example is Sri Lanka.

There are generally three arrangements by which a state 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, bridges and artificial islands not being counted.[1]

States bordering only one other sovereign state

This section considers only sovereign states, not constituent countries like Wales and Scotland, which border only England, or dependent territories such as Gibraltar, which has an international border with Spain but is not legally part of the United Kingdom.

Also not counted are borders on artificial islands such as Passport Island, which is the only land border of Bahrain.

Landlocked

Country Neighbour Border length Notes
km mi
File:Flag of Lesotho.svg Lesotho File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa Script error: No such module "convert". Lesotho is an enclave which is entirely surrounded by South Africa.
File:Flag of San Marino.svg San Marino File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy Script error: No such module "convert". San Marino is an enclave entirely surrounded by Italy.
File:Flag of Vatican City (2023–present).svg Vatican City Script error: No such module "convert". The Vatican City is an enclave entirely surrounded by Rome, Italy.

With coast

Country Neighbour Border length Notes
km mi
File:Flag of Brunei.svg Brunei File:Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysia Script error: No such module "convert". Borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
File:Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg Dominican Republic File:Flag of Haiti.svg Haiti Script error: No such module "convert". On the island of Hispaniola
File:Flag of The Gambia.svg The Gambia File:Flag of Senegal.svg Senegal Script error: No such module "convert". The Republic of the Gambia is bordered to the north, south and east by Senegal.
File:Flag of Haiti.svg Haiti File:Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg Dominican Republic Script error: No such module "convert". On the island of Hispaniola
File:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Script error: No such module "convert". The Republic of Ireland borders the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland region on the island of Ireland.
File:Flag of Monaco.svg Monaco File:Flag of France.svg France Script error: No such module "convert".
File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Papua New Guinea File:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia Script error: No such module "convert". On the island of New Guinea
File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain Script error: No such module "convert".
File:Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia Script error: No such module "convert". The planned Qatar–Bahrain Causeway would connect Qatar to Bahrain.
File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea File:Flag of North Korea.svg North Korea Script error: No such module "convert". 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.
File:Flag of East Timor.svg Timor-Leste File:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia Script error: No such module "convert". On the island of Timor.
File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom File:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland Script error: No such module "convert". 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 (see #Dependent territories section).

With partially recognized countries

Country Neighbour Border length Notes
km mi
File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus File:Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus Script error: No such module "convert". Also borders the British territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, but that is not part of the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus Script error: No such module "convert". Also has a border with the Dhekelia military base, but that is not part of the United Kingdom.

Causeways, bridges, and tunnels

File:Manama bahrain.jpg
Passport Island, the site of the land border between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, is seen at the far left. Each nation has a border checkpoint on the island on opposite sides of the border.

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
File:Flag of Bahrain.svg Bahrain None, since Bahrain is an island. File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg 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.
File:Flag of Singapore.svg Singapore None, since Singapore is cut off by a strait. (Specifically, the Strait of Johor.) File:Flag of Malaysia.svg 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.

Dependent territories

In some cases, a dependent territory of one nation borders another nation.

Territory Sovereignty Neighbour Border length Notes
km
Template:Country data Akrotiri and Dhekelia File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus, File:Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern 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.
File:Flag of Gibraltar.svg Gibraltar File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain 1.2 A British overseas territory, occupies a small peninsula and has a Script error: No such module "convert". land border with Spain. Spain claims some of Gibraltar as its own territory.
Template:Country data Ross Dependency File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg 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.)

Integral parts of sovereign states

In most cases, an integral part of a larger country shares a border with another nation.

Territory Sovereignty Neighbour Border length Notes
File:Flag of Åland.svg Åland File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 528,60 m Autonomous region of Finland. Åland had a dispute in Market Island.
File:Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.svg French Southern and Antarctic Lands File:Flag of France.svg France File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia 5.533.470,05 m Adélie Land, France's (largely unrecognised) claim in Antarctica borders only the Australian Antarctic Territory. (It also touches other claims at the South Pole.)
File:Flag of Greenland.svg Greenland Template:Country data Kingdom of Denmark File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 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]
File:Flag of France.svg Saint Martin File:Flag of France.svg France File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Kingdom of the Netherlands 16 km 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.
File:Flag of Sint Maarten.svg Sint Maarten File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Kingdom of the Netherlands File:Flag of France.svg France

Historical

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.

See also

References

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