Landlocked Countries of World

What is meant by Landlocked Country?

• A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean and their borders are completely surrounded by different countries.
• Some countries even having access to seas can be called as landlocked if the seas on their border are itself landlocked providing no access to open navigation.
• There are currently 44 landlocked countries with the largest being Kazakhstan.
• The largest landlocked country is Kazakhstan, with 2,724,900 sq km of territory; the smallest landlocked state is Vatican City, with 0.44 sq km.

Types of Landlocked Country

Landlocked countries can be further classified as –

1.    Countries that are landlocked by a Single Country – Lesotho, San Marino and Vatican City

2.    Countries that are landlocked by two countries – Andorra, Bhutan, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal and Swaziland

3.    Countries that are landlocked by multiple countries  

4. Double landlocked country – A country which is landlocked by some other country which itself is landlocked is called as Double Landlocked country. Eg. – Liechtenstein, Uzbekistan

Advantages of Landlocked Country

• These countries are relatively well protected from adverse weather conditions caused by oceans such as tsunamis and hurricanes.
• The countries have ability to monitor goods coming into or leaving the country through the borders.
• Landlocked countries are safe from invasions by sea.

Disadvantages of Landlocked Country

• Landlocked Countries, especially, developing ones have challenges in the import and export of goods forcing them to rely on their connected neighbours.
• Transport costs and customs duties become expensive for the landlocked countries.
• To access the coastline, landlocked countries are forced to maintain friendly relations with countries with coastlines even when they do not agree.

List of Landlocked Countries by Continents

• Here is the list of Landlocked Countries by continent according to the decreasing order of their area.

 

List of Largest Landlocked Countries of the World

 

Kazakhstan

Area – 2,724,900 sq km

Population – 17,948,816

Capital – Astana

Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan are neighbours to Kazakhstan. The Caspian Sea borders the country on its west.

 

Mongolia

Area – 1,566,000 sq km

Population – 2,953,190

Capital – Ulan Bator

To its north lies Russia, and China surrounds it on the other three sides.

 

Chad

Area – 1,284,000 sq km

Population – 11,412,107

Capital – N’Djamena

Chad is surrounded by Libya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger.

 

Niger

Area – 1,267,000 sq km

Population – 17,466,172

Capital – Niamey

Niger has Chad on its east, Mali on its west, Burkina Faso in south-east, Nigeria to the south, and Algeria and Libya on the north side, as its neighbours.

 

Mali

Area – 1,240,192 sq km

Population – 16,455,903

Capital – Bamako

Mali is landlocked by Mauritania on the west, Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Senegal on the south.

 

Ethiopia

Area – 1,104,300 sq km

Population – 96,633,458

Capital – Addis Ababa

Ethiopia got landlocked entirely after Eritrea’s independence. It is surrounded by Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, and Sudan.

 

Bolivia

Area – 1,098,581 sq km

Population – 10,631,486

Capital – Sucre

Bolivia is landlocked by Chile and Peru on the west, and with Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina as its neighbours in east and south.

 

Zambia

Area – 752,618 sq km

Population – 14,638,505

Capital – Lusaka

Surrounded by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, Zambia is a landlocked country located in southern Africa.

 

Afghanistan

Area – 652,864 sq km

Population – 31,822,848

Capital – Kabul

It is surrounded by China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and India. The border with India is disputed and claimed officially by India but in reality it comes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

 

Central African Republic

Area – 622,984 sq km

Population – 5,277,959

Capital – Bangui

It is totally surrounded by 6 African countries – Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Republic of Congo.

List of Smallest Landlocked Countries of the World

• The smallest landlocked country of world is Vatican City which has area of 0.44 Sq Km and it is totally bordered by Italy.
• The 5 smallest landlocked countries of world in increasing order are –

1. 1. 1. Vatican City (0.44 Sq. Km area, surrounded by Italy)
      2. San Marino (61 Sq Km, surrounded by Italy)
      3. Liechtenstein (160 Sq Km, surrounded by Austria and Switzerland)
      4. Andorra (468 Sq Km, surrounded by Spain and France)
      5. Luxembourg (2586 Sq Km, surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany)

Complete List of Landlocked Countries around the World

 

 

Interesting Facts

• • The largest landlocked country is Kazakhstan, with 2,724,900 sq km of territory; the smallest landlocked state is Vatican City, with 0.44 sq km.
  • The most populous landlocked country in the world is Ethiopia, with 101.8 million people; on the opposite side, there’s Vatican City, with 820 inhabitants.
  • Europe and Africa have 16 landlocked countries each, Asia has 15 states without coastlines, and the Americas have only two nations without access to open oceans.
  • Interestingly, ten of these 49 nations have naval forces – Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Laos, Paraguay, Rwanda, Uganda, and West Bank.
  • They operate watercraft and have naval personnel patrolling large inland water bodies like seas, lakes, rivers, and other endorheic basins.

 

So, this is all about the Complete List of Landlocked Countries around the World. If you want to read more notes on General Knowledge – Click Here.

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