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Countries with the Shortest Total Borders

Among the countries that have land borders, which ones have the borders with the shortest total length?
The total length of all land borders of each country
Excludes borders with overseas territories, and man-made islands and causeways
Quiz by TenThousand
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Last updated: February 9, 2022
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First submittedAugust 2, 2014
Times taken71,846
Average score70.0%
Rating4.93
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km
country
miles
3
Vatican City
2
4
Monaco
3
39
San Marino
24
60
Qatar
37
68
Denmark
42
76
Liechtenstein
47
120
Andorra
75
228
Timor-Leste
142
238
South Korea
148
359
Luxembourg
223
km
country
miles
360
Dominican Republic
224
360
Haiti
224
381
Brunei
237
454
Lebanon
282
462
Kuwait
287
499
Ireland
310
499
United Kingdom
310
516
Belize
321
528
Djibouti
328
535
Eswatini
332
+70
Level 40
Oct 16, 2017
Got Ireland but not the UK I can't handle myself
+11
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
I almost did that
+2
Level 66
Feb 18, 2020
I missed it too.
+3
Level 83
Nov 23, 2020
I did it with Haiti / D.R .
+2
Level 92
Sep 7, 2021
UK was the last one I got. Luckily realized it had the exact same lengths as Ireland before I ran out of time.

For some reason I got Haiti/DR immediately, but only entered Ireland when I thought of that border.

+11
Level ∞
Nov 10, 2019
Note: @Jerry928 requested that we use Timor-Liste as the country name. The official JetPunk name is still East Timor and, as always, both answers will be accepted.
+10
Level 79
Nov 11, 2019
Why did Jerry928 request that Timor-Leste* be used as the country name instead of East Timor?
+8
Level 66
Feb 18, 2020
Because pretentious people use the Portuguese name when they are speaking a language other than Portuguese.
+11
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
See our answer immediately below this for the actual reason.
+3
Level 37
Aug 20, 2021
so zupity is right
+3
Level 75
Aug 21, 2021
Er, no. See our answer immediately below this for the actual reason.
+1
Level 68
Feb 7, 2022
ok
+31
Level 75
Nov 11, 2019
Because the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) official short form in English and all other languages for the country is Timor-Leste, which has been adopted by the United Nations, the European Union, and the national standards organisations of France (AFNOR), United States (ANSI), United Kingdom (BSI), Germany (DIN), and Sweden (SIS), all diplomatic missions to the country by protocol, and the CIA World Factbook. The official names of Timor-Leste in the country's three official languages are Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (English), República Democrática de Timor-Leste (Portuguese), and Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste (Tetum).
+6
Level 82
Nov 12, 2019
Republic of Korea then, using the same standards.
+18
Level 75
Nov 13, 2019
It is also because it is one of just three countries in the world that has declared its name to be its name in every language.
+1
Level 79
Nov 20, 2019
I see.
+1
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
what are the others?
+4
Level 66
Feb 18, 2020
Cote d´Ivoire and Eswatini I guess?
+7
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
Côte d'Ivoire and Timor-Leste.
+4
Level 51
Feb 18, 2020
What's the third?
+4
Level 72
Feb 18, 2020
Cabo Verde
+1
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
How do I pronounce your name, P3nguin?
+2
Level 37
Feb 18, 2020
Interesting that Timor L'este is used, but we're still grappling with Cote d'Ivoire
+5
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
Timor-Leste, with a hyphen, and without the apostrophe!
+1
Level 75
Apr 4, 2020
Posts containing well-reasoned arguments get my respect. Bdubz's effort doesn't really have either...
+1
Level 89
Sep 7, 2023
Have you told the Spanish or French, who call it Timor Oriental, or the Germans, who call it Osttimor?

I could probably rattle off similar examples from 200 other languages, that aren't stupid enough to bow down to linguistic edicts from overreaching and barely functioning third-world governments.

+3
Level 69
Nov 10, 2019
El Salvador is probably one of the next on the list?!
+6
Level 75
Nov 10, 2019
Nearly! In next place is Equatorial Guinea, then El Salvador comes 22nd.
+11
Level 79
Feb 18, 2020
Yep, I tried both of them.
+1
Level 84
Feb 18, 2020
Was really surprised Djibouti had a shorter length
+3
Level 62
Feb 18, 2020
Equatorial Guinea has got 528 km of land borders Cameroon (183 km) and Gabon (345 km) - source Wikipedia, so it should be on the list - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Equatorial_Guinea#Boundaries
+1
Level 60
Sep 7, 2023
Maybe the source changed but it says 539 km in your source now.
+2
Level 75
Feb 7, 2022
I was surprised Equatorial Guinea wasn't on the list.
+4
Level 74
Nov 10, 2019
So curious the border in Hispaniola is the same length as in Ireland.
+1
Level 77
Nov 10, 2019
UK-Ireland border is 499 km (310 mi) long
+3
Level 75
Nov 10, 2019
Our source was Wikipedia which has changed its numbers. We'll update this; the 20 answers remain unchanged, though.
+4
Level 90
Nov 10, 2019
Passport Island aka Middle Island has an approx. 200 meter land border between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - although the island is man made.
+4
Level 75
Nov 10, 2019
To date, this one has had me stumped. I've looked and looked at that previously, even to the extent of emailing the Bahrain Givernment to ask if Passport Island really is bisected by the country border, or whether Passport Island lies wholly in Saudi or Bahraini territory. If anyone can get a definitive answer please send it through!!!
+6
Level 70
Nov 11, 2019
Surely it can't be too different from a bridge, not considered a border. Other man-made features aren't considered in these kinds of data either, which is why Jutland isn't really an island, even though it is technically split via canal. At least those are my thoughts.
+2
Level 90
Feb 18, 2020
Verdict is still out on this one. When you search 'Bahrain' or 'Saudi Arabia' on google maps, the respective halves of Middle/Passport Island are included in the boundaries of each country, which would support the notion that there is a land border there. On the other hand, when you zoom into it on Google Maps, it does not show a border. That said, the design concept of the 'island' was to have two separate islands connected by a land bridge (isthmus), and further, and perhaps compelling, is that both countries separately report a population of 10 on their respective sides is the island, as opposed to one or the other reporting a/the total population of 20.
+1
Level 72
Feb 7, 2022
Middle Island or "Passport Island" is a manmade island, but it is indeed split between the two nations. It even has (or maybe had) a McDonald's restaurant on the Saudi side and another on the Bahrain side.
+3
Level 79
Nov 10, 2019
Where would Palestine finish, if it were considered in this quiz?
+5
Level 75
Nov 12, 2019
In 16th place, between Kuwait and Ireland.
+1
Level 79
Nov 11, 2019
Singapore?
+5
Level 78
Nov 11, 2019
It's an island. No land borders.
+2
Level 82
Nov 12, 2019
And bridges don't count
+1
Level 73
Nov 20, 2019
I love border quizzes so much. Nice quiz.
+4
Level 29
Dec 19, 2019
panama has to be here, no?
+6
Level 75
Dec 19, 2019
555 km, just off the list.
+1
Level 85
Feb 18, 2020
Bahrain shares a 200m border with Saudi Arabia, making it first on this list.
+6
Level 75
Feb 18, 2020
Please see the answer to stevediverse, above.
+1
Level 50
Feb 18, 2020
Surprised by the omission of the Central American countries
+6
Level 90
Feb 18, 2020
They aren't "omitted" - Belize is included and the rest of Central America is not because they did not make the top 20. Panama has total borders of 555km, just missing the list.
+1
Level 56
Feb 18, 2020
Out of curiosity, where is The Gambia on the list?
+2
Level 72
Feb 18, 2020
according to this it's about 465 miles. Not sure how many countries would fall between Eswatini and Gambia though.
+4
Level 60
Aug 12, 2020
Gambia's borders are 749km, so probably quite far away from the top 20. In other news, how did you managed to post the question, when you clearly don't have access to internet to find out yourself?
+2
Level 60
Sep 7, 2023
To be fair, Quill may have been hoping Jerry928 would have the list from making the quiz and therefore could easily find the ranking, not just length.
+2
Level 60
Feb 18, 2020
wat about gibraltar? cuz uk and ireland have the same.
+2
Level 42
Feb 18, 2020
Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the UK so would not be counted as per the quiz instructions, but if it was it's technically an island so it would have no border.
+9
Level 78
Feb 18, 2020
Gibraltar is not an island. It is on a peninsula on the east side of the Bay of Gibraltar/Bay of Algeciras.
+2
Level 45
Feb 10, 2022
If Gibraltar is an island, what was I walking on when I crossed the border (and it certainly wasn't a bridge!)?
+1
Level 71
Feb 18, 2020
Great quiz
+1
Level 65
Feb 18, 2020
This was very interesting! I missed 4, the 3 least guessed and east timor
+1
Level 65
Feb 18, 2020
How is Singapore not on the list?
+3
Level 90
Feb 18, 2020
Already answered above in response to buscfc93's post of Nov 11, 2019
+1
Level 78
Feb 18, 2020
It is an island
+1
Level 73
Feb 18, 2020
Hi Quizmaster, there is actually a land border between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. There is a small border island where the 2 countries meet. Border is smaller than the Vatican one but it's still a land border even if the island is mostly artificial
+3
Level 73
Feb 18, 2020
And then I saw you already answered this one :)
+2
Level 54
Mar 22, 2022
its manmade not an actual border
+2
Level 71
Feb 18, 2020
It's not confirmed, but there is a possibility that there's an even short land border between India and Sri Lanka on Adam's Bridge. I wouldn't count it for this quiz, but it's an interesting tidbit on the matter.
+2
Level 72
Feb 19, 2020
And yet in Jetpunk Land, Sri Lanka is in fact considered land-adjacent to India, except in this quiz (esp see Countries by Borders quiz).
+5
Level ∞
Feb 19, 2020
We no longer officially consider India and Sri Lanka to share any sort of land border. This will eventually be applied to all quizzes.
+1
Level 60
Aug 13, 2021
I didn't know Jetpunk was established before 1480. Cool.
+1
Level 60
May 8, 2022
The Sri Lanka-India policy still hasn't been applied to Countries by Borders...
+1
Level 72
Feb 19, 2020
And I haven't yet seen a response to the Equatorial Guinea comment. I actually tried it when I took the quiz.
+2
Level 75
Feb 19, 2020
We responded - see our reply to TheLastFish above. Equatorial Guinea is in 21st place.
+1
Level 59
Feb 20, 2020
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have a border on Middle Island. I don't know if that really counts, but just saying.
+1
Level 43
Feb 7, 2022
I guess artificial islands don't count.
+1
Level 60
Mar 23, 2020
sri lanka?
+6
Level 47
Apr 4, 2020
is an island?
+1
Level 60
Apr 9, 2020
More accurately, sri lanka is an island who owns some islands that touch some indian islands
+1
Level 82
Jul 7, 2020
I didn't think of micronations at first and I was so confused with what country only has two miles worth of border
+1
Level 77
Oct 9, 2020
so annoyed. I of course knew about the UK and Ireland, but i figured that the border was much too long and thus never even tried it. They were the only 2 i missed. :-(
+6
Level 49
Dec 18, 2020
denmark having shorter borders than liechtenstein is impressive
+1
Level 52
Jun 5, 2021
I totally forget Liechtenstein all the time
+1
Level 60
Aug 21, 2021
I had one left then Jetpunk crashed. Is it just my internet because this is happening really frequent
+1
Level 57
Jan 28, 2022
All these short border quizzes make no sense JERRY ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A QUIZ
+3
Level 66
Feb 7, 2022
Unbelievable! S.Korea land border is almost equal to that of Timor Leste.
+2
Level 76
Sep 8, 2023
East Timor has a little exclave which, if you look at it, seems to double the length of its border with Indonesia. But yeah, I still would have guessed that South Korea had a way longer border.
+1
Level 79
Feb 7, 2022
How about Cyprus/UK for the sovereign base areas? They're genuine international borders.
+1
Level 80
Feb 9, 2022
The two Sovereign Base Areas are a British Overseas Territory so not included as per the instructions to the quiz.
+2
Level 75
Sep 8, 2023
By the way, have you driven across that border? It's completely unmarked, not even fenced, and un-signed as well. The only way you know you've crossed it is if you keep a close eye on a map while you drive there.
+2
Level 22
Feb 7, 2022
Surprised Panama isn't one of the shortest land borders
+1
Level 43
Feb 8, 2022
Why no Bahrain or Singapore?
+1
Level 67
Feb 9, 2022
They're both islands, so no land borders.
+4
Level 75
Feb 9, 2022
To be fair, it is not as simple as that. We could argue it either way. Firstly, Bahrain: I even wrote to the Bahraini Government off its website asking them where the country boundary in the manmade Passport Island area is. Is Passport Island wholly within one country or the other, or does it bisect Passport Island? I never received an answer and I haven't got a clear answer from anywhere else either. For Singapore, a causeway has been built between Singapore and Malaysia. Technically there is a small water gap and bridge at one end, but it is all-but-closed in. For now, we treat islands connected via man-made islands and causeways still as islands without a land border.
+1
Level 52
Feb 9, 2022
I was surprised not to see Kosovo here.
+3
Level 75
Aug 6, 2022
Surprisingly, given how small it looks, it's actually a 701 km walk along its border till you get back to the start point.
+1
Level 48
Aug 5, 2022
France - Netherlands?
+3
Level 75
Aug 6, 2022
If you're referring to the border on Saint Martin island (where French St Martin, a part of France, borders the country of Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for 10 km), we've covered that in the instructions.
+4
Level 60
Sep 7, 2023
It wouldn't matter if the border exists or not, because it's the total length of borders anyhow.
+1
Level 44
Sep 10, 2023
Missed just Denmark on my first try.
+1
Level 60
Sep 11, 2023
i was expecting montenegro huh
+1
Level 38
Jan 23, 2024
I find it baffling that South Korea has shorter borders than Panama, which doesn't even make the list.