List of island countries

File:Island nations.svg

Map depicts sovereign states and a de facto state (Taiwan) (tw) fully located on islands: those with land borders shaded green, and those without shaded dark blue.

Countries/territories not shown on the map: Antarctica (aq) (continental disputed territory), Australia (au) (continental country), the Cook Islands (ck) and Niue (nu) (free association with New Zealand), Greenland (gl) and the Faroe Islands (fo) (constituent countries of the Kingdom of Denmark), Northern Cyprus (ct.tr and nc.tr) (unrecognized country), and Puerto Rico (pr) (unincorporated U.S. territory).

An island is a landmass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water. Many island countries are spread over an archipelago, as is the case with Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines—these countries consist of thousands of islands. Others consist of a single island, such as Barbados, Dominica, and Nauru; a main island and some smaller islands, such as Cuba, Iceland, and Sri Lanka; a part of an island, such as Brunei, the Dominican Republic, East Timor, and the Republic of Ireland; or one main island but also sharing borders in other islands, such as the United Kingdom (Great Britain and a part of Ireland).

The list also includes two states in free association with New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Niue, as well as two states with limited diplomatic recognition which have de facto control over territories entirely on the islands, Northern Cyprus and Taiwan. In total, 50 island countries have been included in the lists.

Australia is not included as it is considered a continental country, although it was historically referred to as an island country because of its lack of land borders. Greenland is generally considered as the largest island on Earth and listed among the island territories. Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea is officially an unincorporated territory of the United States. Neither Greenland nor Puerto Rico are sovereign countries.

Indonesia is the world's largest island country by area (1,904,569 km²), and by total number of islands (17,504 islands). It is also the world's most populous island country, with a population of over 270 million (the fourth most populous country in the world, after India, China, and the United States).

South America has only one independent sovereign island nation with Trinidad and Tobago; though considered a Caribbean island country, it is located on the northern portion of the South American continental shelf just off Venezuela, but from Grenada, the nearest of the Antilles.

Sovereign states

UN member states and states with limited recognition

Name	ISO code	Geographic configuration	Geologic location	Area		Population	Population density		Geographical location	Establishment/ Independence
				km2	sq mi		per km2	per sq mi
UN member states
Antigua and Barbuda	AG ATG	Two main islands: Antigua Island Barbuda Island	Continental shelf		97,120		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1981 November 1
Bahamas	BS BHS	Archipelago	Continental shelf		389,480		Atlantic Ocean, Lucayan Archipelago	1973 July 10
Bahrain	BH BHR	Archipelago with one main island	Continental shelf		1,641,170		Persian Gulf	1971 December 10
Barbados	BB BRB	One main island	Continental shelf		287,020		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1966 November 30
Brunei	BN BRN	Part of a larger island (Borneo)	Continental shelf		433,290		Maritime Southeast Asia	1984 January 1
Cape Verde	CV CPV	Archipelago	Oceanic		549,930		Atlantic Ocean, Macaronesia	1975 July 5
Comoros	KM COM	Archipelago	Oceanic		850,890		Indian Ocean, Africa, Comoros Islands	1975 July 6
Cuba	CU CUB	One main island, and several smaller islands (Isla de la Juventud, etc.)	Continental shelf		11,346,346		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1868 October 10 1902 May 20
Cyprus	CY CYP	Part of a larger island	Continental shelf		888,005		Mediterranean Sea	1960 August 16
Dominica	DM DMA	One main island	Continental shelf		71,810		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1978 November 3
Dominican Republic	DO DOM	Part of a larger island (Hispaniola), and several smaller islands (Alto Velo, Catalina, Saona, Beata, etc.)	Continental shelf		10,738,960		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1821 December 1 1844 February 27
Template:Country data East Timor	TL TLS	Part of a larger island (Timor)	Oceanic		1,293,120		Maritime Southeast Asia, Lesser Sunda Islands	2002 May 20
Fiji	FJ FJI	Archipelago with two main islands: Viti Levu Vanua Levu	Oceanic		889,950		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1970 October 10
Grenada	GD GRD	One main island with two island dependencies (Carriacou and Petite Martinique)	Continental shelf		112,000		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1974 February 7
Haiti	HT HTI	Part of a larger island (Hispaniola), and several smaller islands (Gonâve, Tortuga, Les Cayemites, etc.)	Continental shelf		11,743,017		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1804 January 1
Iceland	IS ISL	One main island	Oceanic		361,310		Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Circle	1918 December 1 1944 June 17
Indonesia	ID IDN	Archipelago, including parts of larger islands (Borneo, New Guinea, Sebatik, and Timor)	Various		270,625,570		Maritime Southeast Asia, Indian and Pacific oceans	1945 August 17
Ireland	IE IRL	Part of a larger island (Ireland), and several smaller islands	Continental shelf		4,977,400		Atlantic Ocean, British Isles	1922 December 6
Jamaica	JM JAM	One main island with an archipelago of islets (inc. Morant Cays, Pedro Cays, and Port Royal Cays)	Continental shelf		2,734,092		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1962 August 6
Japan	JP JPN	Four main islands and thousands of surrounding islands	Continental shelf		126,264,930		Pacific Ocean, East Asia	660 BC February 11
Kiribati	KI KIR	Several separated archipelagos	Oceanic		117,610		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 July 12
Madagascar	MG MDG	One main island	Continental shelf		26,969,310		Indian Ocean, Africa	1960 June 26
Maldives	MV MDV	Archipelago	Oceanic		383,976		Indian Ocean, Laccadive Sea	1965 July 26
Malta	MT MLT	Two main islands (Malta Island and Gozo) plus other smaller islands	Continental shelf		502,650		Mediterranean Sea	1964 September 21
Marshall Islands	MH MHL	Two archipelagos	Oceanic		58,790		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 May 1
Mauritius	MU MUS	Archipelago with one main island	Oceanic		1,265,710		Indian Ocean, Africa, Mascarene Islands	1968 March 12
Template:Country data Micronesia	FM FSM	Archipelago	Oceanic		113,810		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 May 10
Nauru	NR NRU	One main island	Oceanic		12,580		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1968 January 31
New Zealand	NZ NZL	An archipelago around two main islands: Te Ika-a-Māui (the North Island) Te Waipounamu (the South Island)	Continental shelf		5,125,451		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1907 September 26
Palau	PW PLW	Archipelago	Oceanic		18,010		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1981 January 1
Papua New Guinea	PG PNG	Part of a larger island (New Guinea), and surrounding archipelago	Continental shelf		8,776,110		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1975 September 16
Philippines	PH PHL	Archipelago	Continental shelf		108,116,620		Maritime Southeast Asia	1898 June 12 1946 July 4
Saint Kitts and Nevis	KN KNA	Two main islands: Saint Christopher Island Nevis Island	Continental shelf		52,830		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1983 September 19
Saint Lucia	LC LCA	One main island	Continental shelf		182,790		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1979 February 22
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VC VCT	An archipelago with one main island	Continental shelf		110,590		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1979 October 27
Samoa	WS WSM	Archipelago	Oceanic		197,100		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1962 January 1
São Tomé and Príncipe	ST STP	Two main islands: São Tomé Island Príncipe Island)	Continental shelf		215,060		Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Guinea, Africa	1975 July 12
Seychelles	SC SYC	Archipelago	Various		97,630		Indian Ocean, Africa	1976 June 29
Singapore	SG SGP	An archipelago with one main island	Continental shelf		5,703,570		Maritime Southeast Asia	1965 August 9
Solomon Islands	SB SLB	Archipelago	Oceanic		669,820		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1978 July 7
Sri Lanka	LK LKA	One main island, plus other small islands	Continental shelf		21,803,000		Indian Ocean, South Asia	1948 February 4
Tonga	TO TON	Archipelago	Oceanic		104,490		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1970 June 4
Trinidad and Tobago	TT TTO	An archipelago with two main islands: Trinidad Island Tobago Island	Continental shelf		1,394,970		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1962 August 31
Tuvalu	TV TUV	Archipelago	Oceanic		11,650		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1978 October 1
United Kingdom	GB or UK GBR	One main island, part of second island (Ireland), plus several archipelagos	Continental shelf		67,886,004		Atlantic Ocean, British Isles	1707 May 1
Vanuatu	VU VUT	Archipelago	Oceanic		299,880		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1980 July 30
States with limited recognition
Northern Cyprus	CY CYP	Part of a larger island (Cyprus)	Continental shelf		313,626		Mediterranean Sea	1974 July 20 (unlawful usurpation of Cypriot rule by Turkish minority)
Taiwan	TW TWN	One main island and several smaller islands	Continental shelf		23,603,121		Pacific Ocean, East Asia	1912 January 1 1949 December 7

Associated states

Name	ISO code	Geographic configuration	Geologic location	Associated with	Area		Population	Density		Geographical location
					km2	sq mi		per km2	per sq mi
Cook Islands	CK COK	Two archipelagos	Oceanic	New Zealand		10,777		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Niue	NU NIU	One island	Oceanic	New Zealand		1,269		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia

Dependencies and territories

Name	ISO code	Geographic configuration	Geologic location	Sovereign state	Area		Population	Density		Geographic location
					km2	sq mi		per km2	per sq mi
Åland	AX AXL	Archipelago	Continental shelf	Finland		28,355		Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia
American Samoa	AS ASM	Archipelago	Oceanic	United States		54,947		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Template:Country data Andaman and Nicobar Islands	IN IND	Two neighbouring archipelagos of the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands	Continental shelf	India		380,520		Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea
Anguilla	AI AIA	One main island	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		15,423		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Aruba	AW ABW	One main island	Continental shelf	Netherlands		107,635		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Bermuda	BM BMU	Archipelago	Oceanic	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		62,500		Atlantic Ocean, North America
Template:Country data Bouvet Island	BV BVT	One island	Oceanic	Norway		No permanent resident		Southern Ocean
British Indian Ocean Territory	IO IOT	Archipelago (The Chagos Archipelago)	Oceanic	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom Mauritius		3,000		Indian Ocean
British Virgin Islands	VG VGB	Archipelago	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		31,148		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Template:Country data Caribbean Netherlands	BQ BES	Three separate main islands: Bonaire Sint Eustatius Saba	Continental shelf	Netherlands		21,133		Caribbean Sea
Cayman Islands	KY CYM	Three main islands	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		52,560		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles
Christmas Island	CX CXR	One main island	Oceanic	Australia		1,496		Indian Ocean, Australasia
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	CC CCK	Archipelago	Oceanic	Australia		596		Indian Ocean, Australasia
Curaçao	CW CUW	One main island (central island of the ABC Islands)	Continental shelf	Netherlands		145,834		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Easter Island	CL CHL	One main island	Oceanic	Chile		6,148		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Falkland Islands	FK FLK	Archipelago with two main islands	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		3,140		Atlantic Ocean, South America
Faroe Islands	FO FRO	Archipelago	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco Denmark		49,483		Atlantic Ocean
French Polynesia	PF PYF	Five archipelagos: Template:Flagdeco The Society Islands Template:Flagdeco The Tuamotu Archipelago Template:Flagdeco The Gambier Islands Template:Flagdeco The Marquesas Islands Template:Flagdeco The Austral Islands	Oceanic	France		274,512		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
French Southern and Antarctic Lands	TF ATF	Several scattered archipelagos — Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean — plus Adélie Land (432,000 km2 claim to uninhabited territory in Antarctica)	Oceanic	France		150		Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean
Template:Flagdeco Galápagos Islands	EC ECU	Archipelago	Oceanic	Ecuador		33,042		Pacific Ocean
Greenland	GL GRL	One main island with several archipelagos	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco Denmark		57,695		North America
Guadeloupe	GP GLP	Archipelago	Continental Shelf	France		405,500		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Guam	GU GUM	One main island	Oceanic	United States		159,914		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia
Template:Country data Bailiwick of Guernsey	GG GGY	Three main islands: Guernsey Alderney Sark	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		65,849		English Channel, Channel Islands
Template:Country data Heard and McDonald Islands	HM HMD	Two main islands (Heard Island and McDonald Island)	Oceanic	Australia		No permanent resident		Southern Ocean
Hong Kong	HK HKG	river delta island group with two main islands of Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island of a total of 263 with the largest 19 encompassing around the peninsula of Kowloon and the New Territories	Continental shelf	China		7,498,100		South China Sea, Pearl River Delta
Isle of Man	IM IMN	One main island and a minor island (the Calf of Man)	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		85,421		Irish Sea, British Isles
Template:Country data Jan Mayen	SJ SJM	One mid-Atlantic ridge volcanic seamount	Oceanic	Norway		No permanent resident		Arctic Ocean
Jersey	JE JEY	One main island	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		94,949		English Channel, Channel Islands
Juan Fernández Islands	CL CHL	Three main islands: Robinson Crusoe Alejandro Selkirk Santa Clara	Oceanic	Chile		926		Pacific Ocean
Template:Country data Lakshadweep	IN IND	Archipelago	Oceanic	India		64,473		Indian Ocean
Macau	MO MAC	One main island of and a peninsula on a river delta island (Zhonghsan)	Continental shelf	China		680,000		South China Sea, Pearl River Delta
Martinique	MQ MTQ	One main island	Continental shelf	France		403,795		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Mayotte	YT MYT	One main island	Oceanic	France		194,000		Indian Ocean, Africa, Comoros Islands
Montserrat	MS MST	One main island	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		5,164		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
New Caledonia	NC NCL	Archipelago around one main island	Continental shelf	France		260,166		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia
Norfolk Island	NF NFK	One main island	Continental shelf	Australia		2,182		Pacific Ocean, Melanesia
Northern Mariana Islands	MP MNP	Archipelago	Oceanic	United States		51,395		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia
Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands	PN PCN	Archipelago	Oceanic	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		48		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Puerto Rico	PR PRI	Archipelago around one main island	Continental shelf	United States		3,203,295		Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles
Réunion	RE REU	One main island	Oceanic	France		893,500		Indian Ocean, Africa, Mascarene Islands
Template:Flagdeco San Andrés and Providencia	CO COL	Two archipelagos around two main islands of San Andrés and Providencia	Oceanic	Colombia		61,280		Caribbean Sea
Saint Barthélemy	BL BLM	Archipelago around one main island	Continental shelf	France		7,332		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Template:Country data Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	SH SHN	Three main islands distant from each other of: Saint Helena Template:Country data Ascension Tristan da Cunha	Oceanic	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		7,728		Atlantic Ocean
Saint Martin	MF MAF	Part of a larger island (Saint Martin)	Continental shelf	France		30,959		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	PM SPM	Two main islands	Continental shelf	France		5,831		North America
Sint Maarten	SX SXM	Part of a larger island (Saint Martin)	Continental shelf	Netherlands		39,088		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	GS SGs	One main island and neighbouring archipelago	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		30		Atlantic Ocean
Template:Country data Akrotiri and Dhekelia	GB GBR	Parts of a larger island (Cyprus)	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		15,700		Mediterranean Sea
Svalbard	SJ SJM	Archipelago	Continental shelf	Norway		2,763		Arctic Ocean
Tokelau	TK TKL	Archipelago	Oceanic	Template:Flagdeco New Zealand		1,368		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Turks and Caicos Islands	TC TCA	Archipelago of two island groups	Continental shelf	Template:Flagdeco United Kingdom		46,335		Atlantic Ocean, Lucayan Archipelago
Template:Country data United States Minor Outlying Islands	UM UMI	Loose scattered archipelago of eight Pacific insular areas with one Caribbean (Navassa Island)	Continental shelf	United States		300		Pacific Ocean, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Caribbean Sea
U.S. Virgin Islands	VI VIR	Archipelago	Continental shelf	United States		87,146		Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles
Wallis and Futuna	WF WLF	Three main islands of: Template:Country data Uvea (Wallis) Hoorn Islands of Futuna and Alofi Island	Oceanic	France		15,289		Pacific Ocean, Polynesia

Former colonies, possessions, protectorates, and other territories

• Annobón (1474–1778), now part of Equatorial Guinea
• Bay Islands, now a department of Honduras
• Cape Breton Island, now part of Nova Scotia, Canada
• Template:Flagdeco Danish West Indies, now the United States Virgin Islands
• Elobey, Annobón and Corisco (1843–1926) unified with the rest of Spanish Guinea
• Fernando Po (1778–1926)
• Template:Flagdeco The Territory of Hawaii, now Hawaii, a state of the United States
• Heligoland (1807–1890)
• Hong Kong Island (1841–1860), now a part of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China
• United States of the Ionian Islands, protectorate of the United Kingdom.
• Septinsular Republic, protectorate in the Ionian Islands under nominal Russo-Ottoman joint sovereignty.
• Labuan, briefly part of British North Borneo, the Straits Settlements and Sabah, now a federal territory of Malaysia
• Template:Flagdeco Mayotte, now an overseas department and region of France
• Minorca (1713–1802)
• Colony of Newfoundland (1583–1907)
• Template:Flagdeco New Hebrides, now Vanuatu
• British North Borneo
• Padang
• Prince of Wales Island between 1786 and 1800, at that point joined by Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai). Now as the state of Penang in the Malaysian federation.
• Prince Edward Island, now a province of Canada
• The Providence Island colony
• Queen Charlotte Islands
• Template:Flagdeco Réunion, now an overseas department and region of France
• Template:Country data Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, former British overseas territory dissolved in 1983.
• Socotra Archipelago, now a governorate of Yemen
• Tasmania, now a state of Australia, shares a land boundary with Victoria on Boundary Islet
• Vancouver Island, now a part of British Columbia, Canada
• People's Republic of Zanzibar, now a member of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Island countries with man-made fixed links to continents

• Bahrain to Saudi Arabia via the King Fahd Causeway
• Singapore to Malaysia via the Johor–Singapore Causeway since 1924, with the Tuas Second Link added in 1998
• United Kingdom to France via the Channel Tunnel

See also

• Archipelagic state
• List of archipelagos
• List of Caribbean countries by population
• List of countries that border only one other country
• List of divided islands
• Lists of islands
• List of islands by area
• List of islands by population
• List of islands by population density
• List of Oceanian countries by population
• List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Oceania
• List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Indian Ocean
• Small Island Developing States
• Thalassocracy

External links

• Island superlatives