Island country

Island countries
Sovereign states and states with limited recognition fully on islands: those with land borders shaded green, and those without shaded dark blue (Bahrain (bh) should be shaded green as it shares a small land border with Saudi Arabia)

Countries/territories not shown on the map: Antarctica (aq) (continent), Australia (au) (continent), Cook Islands (ck) (free association with New Zealand), Greenland (gl) (integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark), Niue (nu) (free association with New Zealand); Northern Cyprus (tk-cy and cy-tk) (unrecognized country) Puerto Rico (pr) (unincorporated US territory)

An island country, island state or island nation is a country that is made up only of islands. A 25% of the world's countries are island countries. Island countries are historically more stable than continental countries but they're vulnerable for conquest by any naval superpowers. Indonesia is the island country with the most people in the world.

There are many variations between island country economies: they may rely mainly on extractive industries, such as mining, fishing and agriculture, and/or on services such as transit hubs, tourism, and financial services.

List

There are at least 45 island countries in the world, and there are countries that only consist of an island, such as Iceland or Nauru, an archipelago, such as Federated States of Micronesia or Palau. This list also includes Australia, though a continent.

Country ISO-3166 code Area Population Capital Official languages Location
  Antigua and Barbuda ATG 442 km² 90,000 St John's en  
  Australia** AUS 7688000 km² 26,600,000 Canberra en  
  Bahamas BHS 13880 km² 415,000 Nassau en  
  Bahrain BAH 765 km² 1,422,000 Manama ar  
  Barbados BRB 430 km² 288,000 Bridgetown en  
  Brunei BRN 5770 km² 466,000 Bandar Seri Begawan my/zh  
  Cape Verde CPV 4030 km² 578,000 Praia pt  
  Comoros COM 1861 km² 833,000 Moroni ar/fr/sw  
  Cook Islands COK 235 km² 8,200 Avarua mi/en/rt  
  Cuba CUB 110000 km² 11,400,000 Havana es  
  Dominica DMA 755 km² 73,000 Roseau en  
  East Timor TLS 14900 km² 1,310,000 Dili pt  
  Fiji FJI 18300 km² 916,000 Suva en/fj/hi  
  Grenada GRN 345 km² 126,000 St George's en  
  Iceland ISL 103000 km² 378,000 Reykjavík is  
  Indonesia IDN 1905000 km² 278,700,000 Jakarta id  
  Jamaica JAM 11000 km² 2,750,000 Kingston en  
  Japan JPN 377000 km² 124,400,000 Tokyo ja  
  Kiribati KIR 810 km² 131,000 South Tarawa gil/en  
  Madagascar MAD 580000 km² 26,000,000 Antananarivo fr/md  
  Malaysia MYS 331000 km² 33,000,000 Kuala Lumpur ms  
  Maldives MDV 300 km² 510,000 Malé md  
  Malta MLT 315 km² 530,000 Valletta en/mt/it  
  Marshall Islands MHL 180 km² 77,000 Majuro mh/en  
  Mauritius MUS 2040 km² 1,233,000 Port Louis en/fr  
  Micronesia FSM 705 km² 122,000 Palikir n/d/en/es  
  Nauru NRU 22 km² 8,800 Yaren nr/en  
  New Zealand NZL 270000 km² 5,370,000 Wellington en/mi/nzs  
  Niue NIU 260 km² 2,200 Alofi nu/en  
  Palau PLW 460 km² 22000 Ngerulmud pau/en/ja  
  Papua New Guinea PNG 462000 km² 11,200,000 Port Moresby en/tk/hm/id  
  Philippines PHL 343000 km² 114,000,000 Manila tg/en/es  
  Saint Kitts and Nevis KNA 262 km² 55,000 Basseterre en  
  Saint Lucia LCA 620 km² 180,000 Castries en  
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VCT 390 km² 117,000 Kingstown en  
  Samoa WSM 2830 km² 228,000 Apia sm/en  
  São Tomé and Príncipe STP 1002 km² 236,000 São Tomé pt  
  Seychelles SYC 455 km² 105,000 Victoria sc/en/fr  
  Singapore SGP 720 km² 5,800,000 Singapore ms/en/zh/tml  
  Solomon Islands SLB 28900 km² 747,000 Honiara en  
  Sri Lanka LKA 65500 km² 22,400,000 Colombo en  
  Taiwan TWN 36600 km² 23,800,000 Taipei tw/zh  
  Tonga TON 747 km² 107,000 Nuku'alofa to/en  
  Trinidad and Tobago TTO 5130 km² 1,550,000 Port of Spain en  
  Tuvalu TUV 26 km² 11,500 Funafuti tv/en  
  Vanuatu VUT 12200 km² 335,000 Port Vila bi/en/fr  

Australia is a continent but an island.

Island Country Media

Notes