Countries With The Most Islands 2023

There are a lot of islands around the world, and they are in many different countries. Some are large, while others are small and empty. Some are tropical and full of plants, while others are just rocky outcroppings.

Greenland, the biggest island in the world, is about 836,00 square miles. Yet there are countries that are mostly made up of archipelagos, which are groups of islands.

1. Sweden

Sweden has more islands than any other country. Even Stockholm, the country’s capital, is made up of several small islands that are linked by bridges. But some islands have people living on them. Some islands, like the Blido, Orno, Moja, Uto, and Sando Islands, are home to Swedish people and are even visited by tourists.

The Stockholm archipelago, which includes around 30,000 islands, islets, and rocks, is the most well-known of Sweden’s hundreds of islands. The Bohuslän archipelago is another notable one, and it includes more than 8,000 islands and islets.

Only a single or small family inhabits the remaining islands. So it’s easy to see why the government would push for island purchases.

2. Norway

The second country on our list is Norway, which has 239,057 islands. One of the most well-known islands in Norway is the Lofoten Islands. They are in the Norwegian Sea, above the Arctic Circle. It attracts tourists because of its strange natural environment, which is home to many fish and natural wonders like the midnight sun during the day and the northern lights during the winter.

There are also a lot of islands in the Western Fjords, a part of Norway with deep valleys, steep hills, rivers, waterfalls, and a lot of rough-looking islands. In the same way, Norway’s lowland, called the South Coast, is home to several small islands.

3. Finland

Finland has 187,888 lakes and a whole lot of islands. Most of these islands contain coral formations that are too steep for human habitation. So instead, traditional structures like the castle and temples are located on nearby islands. SuperShe Island is a one-of-a-kind island where women are the sole guests.

Archipelago Finland, stretching from the southwest coast to the Baltic Sea, is home to most of Finland’s islands. 

4. Canada

Canada is the second-largest country in size, at around 3,860,000 square miles. Therefore, it is not surprising that it also has several islands. With 52,455 islands in the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans, Canada has the world’s longest coastline.

Three famous islands in Canada are among the world’s ten largest. They consist of the islands of Baffin, Ellesmere, and Victoria, respectively. They are scattered across a vast area of the Arctic Ocean to the north of the country, totaling about 550,000 square miles.

5. United States

The United States has 18,617 islands, placing it fifth on the list. Each U.S. state is filled with islands in its lakes and rivers, as well as off its shores. There are at least 2,670 named islands in Alaska, the most of any state. Despite the fact that Alaska is recognized for having larger islands, Hawaii is the only state that consists entirely of an island, spanning over 4,030 square miles. Hawaii is an archipelago consisting of 8 main islands (7 inhabited) and 129 smaller islands.

Puerto Rico was numbered for the first time in 1899, followed by the Virgin Islands in 1917 economic census programs were launched in 1963 and 1958, respectively. Wake Island has a historical past, having played a crucial role in World War II. It became a part of the United States in 1898, was populated during the 1950 census, and has been administered by the U.S. Air Force since 1962.

6. Indonesia

Indonesia has the most significant single archipelago of any country. Seventeen thousand five hundred four islands make up the Indonesian archipelago, although only roughly 6,000 are inhabited. With almost 270 million people, it is commonly acknowledged as the nation with the fourth-highest population in the world.

Additionally, Indonesia is the nation that possesses the most islands that are inhabited. The most populous is Java Island, which has over sixty percent of the Indonesian population, or approximately one hundred thirty million people. Java Island is almost the same size as the state of New York. Other essential islands in Indonesia include Sumatra, which is far more significant than Java but is home to only roughly a third of the country’s total population. In addition to Papua and Irian Jaya, this region is home to the massive islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

7. Australia

Australia has 8,222 islands, which makes it the seventh country in the world with the most islands. Australia is technically a continent, but in the past, it was called an island because it didn’t have any land borders. Australia claims several big islands in the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, the Coral Sea, and the Timor Sea. They range in size from islands greater than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) to small rocks that aren’t covered by water. 

Fraser Island is a well-known island in Australia, located 152 kilometers north of Brisbane. It is the world’s largest sand island. Christmas Island is another famous Australian maritime island. Nonetheless, it is a solitary island in the Indian Ocean.

8. Philippines

One of the most famous archipelagos in the world, the Philippines is comprised of 7,641 individual islands and is located to the southeast of the Asian continent, between Taiwan and Borneo. Luzon is situated in the northern part of the islands, the Visayas is located in the central regions, and Mindanao is in the southern part. 

Manila is located on the Philippines’ main island, Luzon, which is also the location of the country’s capital. In contrast, the Visayas are renowned for their beaches and coves. In addition, the extensive forest cover of Mindanao is well-known. The Philippines’ total land area is roughly 115,830 square miles (300,000 square kilometers), of which about 772 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) are water.

The following is a list of Most islands by Country in 2023.