Border facts: the strangest lines on the map
A border is a decision somebody made, usually in a hurry and often a long way from the ground it describes. That is why so many of them are strange up close: they follow a river that has since moved, or a treaty line drawn on a map with no survey behind it, or a hedge. These are the ones worth knowing about.
Which country shares a land border with the most other countries?
China and Russia, with 14
Both China and Russia border 14 countries. Brazil leads South America with 10, and Germany borders 9, more than any other country in western Europe.
Source: CIA World Factbook land boundary listings
How many countries in the world are entirely surrounded by just one other country?
Three
Lesotho sits inside South Africa, and San Marino and the Vatican both sit inside Italy. Every other landlocked country touches at least two neighbours.
Source: Standard enclave definition; borders from the CIA World Factbook
Which countries are landlocked by other landlocked countries, so you must cross two borders to reach the sea?
Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan
Liechtenstein is ringed by Switzerland and Austria, both landlocked. Uzbekistan's neighbours are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. None has ocean access, since the Caspian is a lake.
Source: Doubly landlocked is a standard geographic classification
In the town of Baarle on the Dutch-Belgian border, how does the boundary behave?
It cuts through houses
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are threaded together as roughly 30 separate parcels, some Belgian enclaves containing Dutch counter-enclaves. Front doors decide nationality, so some houses have two house numbers.
Source: Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau municipal records
Which two countries share the longest continuous land border?
Canada and the US
The Canada-US border runs about 8,890 km including Alaska. Kazakhstan and Russia are second at roughly 7,600 km, and Argentina and Chile third at about 5,300 km.
Source: CIA World Factbook boundary lengths
Does the European Union have a land border with Africa?
Yes, at Ceuta and Melilla
Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities on the North African coast, so Spain (and with it the EU) borders Morocco on land. Gibraltar is British and on the European side.
Source: Spanish autonomous cities; EU external border definitions
Which two countries share the shortest international land border?
Vatican City and Italy
The Vatican's entire perimeter is its border with Italy, roughly 3.4 km. Monaco's border with France is about 6 km, the next shortest.
Source: CIA World Factbook boundary lengths
Why do so many African borders run in straight lines?
They were drawn on maps
The 1884-85 Berlin Conference and subsequent treaties partitioned the continent between European powers, largely without reference to existing peoples or terrain. About 30 percent of African borders are straight lines.
Source: Berlin Conference records; African Union boundary studies
Which country's borders with its neighbours are still not fully agreed after decades of talks?
India and China
The Line of Actual Control is a de facto boundary rather than a settled border, and stretches of it remain disputed. Skirmishes have occurred as recently as 2020-21.
Source: Indian and Chinese ministry statements
The Haskell Free Library sits on which border, with a line painted through the reading room?
Canada and the US
Built deliberately astride the Vermont-Quebec line in 1904. The books are in Canada and the main entrance is in the US, so readers cross an international boundary to reach the shelves.
Source: Haskell Free Library and Opera House records
Roughly how many landlocked countries are there?
About 44
Around 44 countries have no coastline, including two doubly landlocked ones. Africa has the most, followed by Europe and Asia.
Source: UN Office of the High Representative for Landlocked Developing Countries
What is unusual about Bir Tawil, the land between Egypt and Sudan?
Neither country claims it
Egypt and Sudan each prefer a different border line, and each line assigns Bir Tawil to the other while assigning the larger Hala'ib Triangle to itself. Claiming Bir Tawil would undermine the claim to Hala'ib.
Source: 1899 and 1902 Anglo-Egyptian boundary lines
How many NATO members share a land border with Russia after 2023?
Five
Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (via Kaliningrad) and Poland (also via Kaliningrad), plus Finland from 2023. Finland's accession more than doubled NATO's land border with Russia.
Source: NATO membership records; national boundary data
Which capital city is still divided by a UN buffer zone?
Nicosia
Nicosia has been split since 1974 between the Republic of Cyprus and the north, with a UN-patrolled buffer zone running through the old city. It is the last divided capital in Europe.
Source: United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Until 2015, the India-Bangladesh border contained what oddity?
A third-order enclave
Dahala Khagrabari was an Indian plot inside a Bangladeshi enclave, itself inside an Indian enclave, inside Bangladesh. A 2015 land-swap agreement dissolved the whole tangle.
Source: India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement, 2015
Which is the busiest land border crossing in the world?
San Ysidro
San Ysidro handles tens of millions of crossings a year between Tijuana and San Diego. The Johor-Singapore causeway is comparable by some counts but is shorter and lighter on vehicles.
Source: US Customs and Border Protection crossing statistics
Roughly how many countries does the equator pass through?
About 13
Around 13 countries, depending on whether maritime territory counts: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Maldives, Indonesia and Kiribati.
Source: Equatorial crossings from national boundary data
How many countries does the prime meridian cross?
Eight
The UK, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana. It crosses far more ocean than land.
Source: Greenwich meridian crossings from boundary data
Who governs Antarctica?
No one country
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty froze all territorial claims and reserved the continent for peaceful scientific use. Seven countries maintain claims that nobody is obliged to recognise.
Source: Antarctic Treaty, 1959
Where does a country's airspace legally end?
There is no agreed altitude
No treaty fixes the boundary. The Karman line at 100 km is a common convention for awarding astronaut wings, not a legal border, and states have deliberately avoided settling it.
Source: UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space discussions
Travelling in a straight line, which continent would you cross the most countries on?
Europe
Europe packs roughly 44 countries into about 10 million km2, so a straight line crosses borders far more often than on any other continent.
Source: National boundary data; continental areas
What is Transnistria?
A breakaway region
A strip of Moldova east of the Dniester that declared independence in 1990. It has its own currency and border posts, and no UN member recognises it.
Source: Moldovan government; OSCE reporting
What is unusual about Mount Athos in Greece?
It bars women
An autonomous polity within Greece, governed by twenty monasteries. The ban on women, the avaton, has been in place for over a thousand years and is written into Greek law.
Source: Greek Constitution, article 105
What is unusual about visa rules for Svalbard?
Many people need no visa
The 1920 Svalbard Treaty gives nationals of signatory states equal rights of residence and commerce. It is one of the few inhabited places on Earth with effectively open access.
Source: Svalbard Treaty, 1920
The Gambia's shape is determined by what?
The course of a river
The country is a narrow strip following the Gambia River, surrounded on three sides by Senegal. The borders reportedly trace how far British gunboats could shell from the water.
Source: Anglo-French colonial boundary agreements
Which countries are usually counted as lying in both Europe and Asia?
Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan
The Europe-Asia line follows the Urals, the Caucasus and the Turkish Straits by convention. It is a cultural boundary, not a physical one, so the list depends on who is drawing it.
Source: Conventional Europe-Asia boundary definitions
Which is the largest landlocked country?
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan covers about 2.7 million km2, larger than western Europe. Its Caspian shore does not count, because the Caspian has no outlet to any ocean.
Source: CIA World Factbook
Which country's territory contains the geographic South Pole?
None
Seven countries maintain overlapping claims but the Antarctic Treaty suspends them all. The pole itself sits where several claimed sectors would converge.
Source: Antarctic Treaty, 1959
Why are there 193 countries in this game rather than some other number?
That is the number of UN member states
UN membership is a line somebody else maintains, so it needs no judgement from us. It leaves out Taiwan, Palestine, Kosovo and Western Sahara. That is a boundary, not a statement.
Source: United Nations member states list