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List of countries bordering on two or more oceans

Last updated: 2025-07-23 15:58:33

List of countries bordering on two or more oceans
World map of countries by number of oceans bordered:
  landlocked countries;
  countries bordering one ocean;
  countries bordering two oceans;
  countries bordering three oceans;
  countries bordering several oceans via their dependent territories.
World map of the five-ocean model with approximate boundaries

Some non-landlocked countries touch more than one of the five named oceans: the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacfic, and Southern.[1] Countries bordering only one ocean are not listed here, no matter how many of its marginal seas they touch.[2] The main list includes only contiguous areas touching multiple oceans; a second list includes countries whose total number of oceans is increased due to discontiguous areas.

Contiguous area

This list includes only contiguous parts of a country with coastlines on multiple oceans. Countries touching multiple oceans due to discontiguous reasions are listed below in § Discontiguous countries. Under each ocean is listed the smallest named region or marginal sea that includes the coastline where that country and ocean meet.

Continent(s) Country Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Polar oceans Count Trans-oceanic connection
 
Africa South Africa South Atlantic Indian Ocean Southern Ocean 2 or 3[a] Cape of Good Hope
Africa
Asia		 Egypt Mediterranean Sea Red Sea 2 Suez Canal
Asia Israel Mediterranean Sea Red Sea 2 High-speed railway to Eilat (proposed)
Asia Thailand Gulf of Thailand Andaman Sea 2 Thai Canal (proposed)
Asia Malaysia South China Sea Andaman Sea 2 Strait of Malacca
Asia East Timor Savu Sea
Flores Sea		 Timor Sea 2
Asia
Oceania		 Indonesia Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean 2
Asia
Europe		 Russia North Pacific Black Sea
Baltic Sea		 Arctic Ocean 3 Trans-Siberian Railway
Europe Norway Norwegian Sea Barents Sea 2
Europe Iceland North Atlantic Greenland Sea 1 or 2[b]
North America Greenland[c] North Atlantic Arctic Ocean 2
North America Canada North Pacific North Atlantic Arctic Ocean 3 Canadian Pacific Railway
North America US (Alaska) North Pacific Arctic Ocean 2[d] Trans-Alaska Pipeline
North America US (Lower 48) North Pacific North Atlantic 2[d] First transcontinental railroad
North America Mexico Pacific Ocean Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean Sea		 2 Tehuantepec route
North America Guatemala Pacific Ocean Gulf of Honduras 2
North America Honduras Gulf of Fonseca Caribbean Sea 2
North America Nicaragua Pacific Ocean Caribbean Sea 2 Nicaragua Canal (proposed)
North America Costa Rica Pacific Ocean Caribbean Sea 2
North America
South America[e]		 Panama Gulf of Panama Caribbean Sea 2 Panama Canal
South America Colombia Pacific Ocean Caribbean Sea 2
South America Chile South Pacific Strait of Magellan
Beagle Channel
Drake Passage		 Southern Ocean 2 or 3[f]
South America Argentina Beagle Channel South Atlantic Drake Passage 1, 2 or 3[g]
Australia Australia South Pacific Indian Ocean Southern Ocean 2 or 3[h] Indian Pacific
Antarctica Antarctica South Pacific South Atlantic Indian Ocean Southern Ocean 1 or 3[i] Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Discontiguous countries

This section lists countries whose overall count of oceans is increased by considering discontiguous areas.

Only the largest contiguous area is listed under a given ocean, and then only if it contributes to the total number of oceans, so Great Britain and Metropolitan France are listed but not The Bahamas or French Guiana, and Alaska and the Lower 48 are listed separately, but not Hawaii.

Country Counts Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean
France 4 1 New Caledonia Metropolitan France Réunion Adélie Land
UK 4 1 Pitcairn Islands Great Britain BIOT British Antarctic Territory
US 3 2 Lower 48 Lower 48
2 Alaska Alaska

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ South Africa borders on three oceans if the Southern Ocean is considered to extend to its shores, but only on two otherwise.
  2. ↑ Iceland bordrers on two oceans if the Greenland Sea is considered a part of the Arctic Ocean, but only one if it is considered a part of the North Atlantic.
  3. ↑ Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
  4. 1 2 Although Alaska and the Lower 48 each borders on two oceans, no single contiguous U.S. territory borders on three oceans. The two together would make the United States a country bordering on three oceans.
  5. ↑ The boundary between North America and South America is somewhat arbitrary. Although atlases in the Western countries today generally show Panama entirely within North America, some atlases show the continental boundary along the Panama Canal instead. Furthermore, some 19th century atlases even showed the continental boundary along the border between Costa Rica and Panama, which was then a part of Gran Colombia.[3]
  6. ↑ Chile borders on three oceans if the Southern and Atlantic Oceans are considered to meet in its territory, but only on two otherwise.
  7. ↑ Argentina's oceans include the Southern Ocean if the Drake Passage is considered part of it and the Pacific Ocean if its waters are considered to extend to the Argentine portion of the Beagle Channel.
  8. ↑ Australia borders on three oceans if the Southern Ocean is considered to extend that far north, but only on two otherwise.
  9. ↑ Antarctica is included on this list although not a country. If the Southern ocean is considered a separate ocean, it borders on only that one ocean. If, however, the Southern Ocean is considered to be merely part of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, Antarctica borders on all three.

References

  1. ↑ "How many oceans are there?". National Ocean Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  2. ↑ For example, India is not included. It borders on the Indian Ocean including the Andaman Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal, which would all be in the Indian Ocean column of the table.
  3. ↑ Dollar Atlas of the World. Chicago and New York: Prepared and published especially for the Kansas City Journal, Kansas City, Missouri by Rand McNally & Company. 1900. pp. 118–120.

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