List Of Island Countries

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.

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).

Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea is officially an unincorporated territory of the United States.

South America is the only inhabited continent without an island country.

UN member states and states with limited recognition

Name	ISO code	Geographic configuration	Geologic location	Area (km2)	Population	Population density (per km2)	Geographical location	Establishment/ Independence
UN member states
Antigua and Barbuda	AG ATG	Two main islands (Antigua Island and Barbuda Island)	Continental shelf	442	97,120	220	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1981 November 1
Bahamas	BS BHS	Archipelago	Continental shelf	13,939	389,480	28	Atlantic Ocean, Lucayan Archipelago	1973 July 10
Bahrain	BH BHR	Archipelago (centered around Bahrain Island)	Continental shelf	778	1,641,170	2,109	Persian Gulf	1971 December 10
Barbados	BB BRB	One island	Continental shelf	430	287,020	667	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1966 November 30
Brunei Darussalam	BN BRN	Part of a larger island (Borneo)	Continental shelf	5,765	433,290	75	Maritime Southeast Asia	1984 January 1
Cape Verde	CV CPV	Archipelago	Oceanic	4,033	549,930	136	Atlantic Ocean, Macaronesia	1975 July 5
Comoros	KM COM	Archipelago	Oceanic	1,861	850,890	457	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	109,884	11,346,346	103	Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1868 October 10 1902 May 20
Cyprus	CY CYP	Part of a larger island, de jure sovereignty over entire island (Cyprus)	Continental shelf	9,251	888,005	96	Mediterranean Sea	1960 August 16
Dominica	DM DMA	One island	Continental shelf	754	71,810	95	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	48,671	10,738,960	221	Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1821 December 1 1844 February 27
East Timor	TL TLS	Part of a larger island (Timor)	Oceanic	14,919	1,293,120	87	Maritime Southeast Asia, Lesser Sunda Islands	2002 May 20
Fiji	FJ FJI	Archipelago	Oceanic	18,274	889,950	49	Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1970 October 10
Grenada	GD GRD	One main island, two dependencies (Carriacou and Petite Martinique)	Continental shelf	344	112,000	326	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	27,750	11,743,017	423	Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1804 January 1
Iceland	IS ISL	One main island	Oceanic	102,775	361,310	4	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	1,904,569	270,625,570	142	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	70,273	4,977,400	71	Atlantic Ocean, British Isles	1922 December 6
Jamaica	JM JAM	One main island, and several small islands (Port Royal Cays, etc.)	Continental shelf	10,991	2,734,092	249	Caribbean Sea, Greater Antilles	1962 August 6
Japan	JP JPN	Archipelago (Japanese Archipelago)	Continental shelf	377,976	126,264,930	334	Pacific Ocean, East Asia	660 BC February 11
Kiribati	KI KIR	Archipelago	Oceanic	811	117,610	145	Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 July 12
Madagascar	MG MDG	One main island	Continental shelf	587,041	26,969,310	46	Indian Ocean, Africa	1960 June 26
Maldives	MV MDV	Archipelago	Oceanic	298	383,976	1,289	Indian Ocean, Laccadive Sea	1965 July 26
Malta	MT MLT	Two main islands (Malta Island and Gozo) plus other smaller islands	Continental shelf	316	502,650	1,591	Mediterranean Sea	1964 September 21
Marshall Islands	MH MHL	Archipelago	Oceanic	181	58,790	325	Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 May 1
Mauritius	MU MUS	Archipelago	Oceanic	2,040	1,265,710	620	Indian Ocean, Africa, Mascarene Islands	1968 March 12
Micronesia	FM FSM	Archipelago	Oceanic	702	113,810	162	Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1979 May 10
Nauru	NR NRU	One island	Oceanic	21	12,580	599	Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1968 January 31
New Zealand	NZ NZL	Two main islands (North Island and South Island) plus other smaller islands	Continental shelf	270,467	5,125,451	19	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1907 September 26
Palau	PW PLW	Archipelago	Oceanic	459	18,010	39	Pacific Ocean, Micronesia	1981 January 1
Papua New Guinea	PG PNG	Part of a larger island (New Guinea), and several smaller islands	Continental shelf	462,840	8,776,110	19	Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1975 September 16
Philippines	PH PHL	Archipelago	Continental shelf	300,000	108,116,620	360	Maritime Southeast Asia	1898 June 12 1946 July 4
Saint Kitts and Nevis	KN KNA	Two main islands (Saint Kitts Island and Nevis Island)	Continental shelf	261	52,830	202	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1983 September 19
Saint Lucia	LC LCA	One main island	Continental shelf	616	182,790	297	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1979 February 22
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VC VCT	Archipelago	Continental shelf	389	110,590	284	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1979 October 27
Samoa	WS WSM	Archipelago	Oceanic	2,842	197,100	69	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1962 January 1
São Tomé and Príncipe	ST STP	Two main islands (São Tomé Island and Príncipe Island)	Continental shelf	1,001	215,060	215	Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Guinea, Africa	1975 July 12
Seychelles	SC SYC	Archipelago	Various	455	97,630	215	Indian Ocean, Africa	1976 June 29
Singapore	SG SGP	One main island, plus other smaller islands	Continental shelf	728	5,703,570	7,831	Maritime Southeast Asia	1965 August 9
Solomon Islands	SB SLB	Archipelago	Oceanic	28,400	669,820	24	Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1978 July 7
Sri Lanka	LK LKA	One main island, plus other small islands	Continental shelf	65,610	21,803,000	332	Indian Ocean, South Asia	1948 February 4
Tonga	TO TON	Archipelago	Oceanic	748	104,490	140	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1970 June 4
Trinidad and Tobago	TT TTO	Two main islands (Trinidad Island and Tobago Island) plus other smaller islands	Continental shelf	5,131	1,394,970	272	Caribbean Sea, Lesser Antilles	1962 August 31
Tuvalu	TV TUV	Archipelago	Oceanic	26	11,650	448	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia	1978 October 1
United Kingdom[discuss]	GB or UK GBR	One main island, part of second island (Ireland), plus several minor islands	Continental shelf	244,820	67,886,004	277	Atlantic Ocean, British Isles	1707 May 1
Vanuatu	VU VUT	Archipelago	Oceanic	12,189	299,880	25	Pacific Ocean, Melanesia	1980 July 30
States with limited recognition
Northern Cyprus	CY CYP	Part of a larger island (Cyprus)	Continental shelf	3,355	313,626	93	Mediterranean Sea	1974 July 20
Taiwan	TW TWN	One main island, and several smaller islands	Continental shelf	36,193	23,603,121	652	Pacific Ocean, East Asia	1912 January 1 1949 December 7

Associated states

Name	ISO code	Geographic configuration	Geologic location	Associated with	Area (km2)	Population	Density (per km2)	Geographical location
Cook Islands	CK COK	Archipelago	Oceanic	New Zealand	236	10,777	45.7	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia
Niue	NU NIU	One island	Oceanic	New Zealand	260	1,269	4.9	Pacific Ocean, Polynesia

Africa

Asia

Europe

North America

Oceania

• Annobón (1474-1778), now part of Equatorial Guinea
•   Bay Islands, now a department of Honduras
•   Cape Breton Island, now part of Nova Scotia, Canada
•   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)
•   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
•   Mayotte, now an overseas department and region of France
•   Minorca (1713–1802)
•   Colony of Newfoundland (1583–1907)
•   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
•   Réunion, now an overseas department and region of France
•   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.

•   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

• 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