LIST OF COUNTRIES BY LENGTH OF COASTLINE

This is a 'list of countries by length of coastline', in kilometers, based on data for the year 2005 by the ''CIA World Factbook''. [1] Coastline of 0 indicates that the country is landlocked.
However, measurements of the length of a coastline behave like a fractal, being different at different 'scale intervals' (distance between points on the coastline at which measurements are taken). The smaller the scale interval (meaning the more detailed the measurement), the longer the coastline will be.^[1] This 'magnifying' effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones. For example, as seen on satellite image websites, the length of Canada's very convoluted coastline at a scale interval of 500 km is only about 20,000 km, less than a tenth of the value given in the table. On the other hand, Australia's coastline at 500 km intervals is about 12,500 km, around half the value in the table.^[2]
Since the scales at which the ''CIA World Factbook'' figures were measured is not stated, they cannot be relied upon except as a guide.

Contents

See also

Notes and references

See also

★ List of national capitals

★ List of countries and capitals in native languages

Notes and references

1. The smaller the scale interval mathematically, the more detailed and the 'greater the scale of the map', in common usage. See scale (map).
2. Google Earth measurements using the path measuring tool.