All 44 Landlocked Countries

What makes a country landlocked

A landlocked country is one without a coastline on the ocean or on a sea that opens into it. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea puts it more briefly: a land-locked state is one "which has no sea-coast".

A lake shore does not count, however big the lake. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan all have long shores on the Caspian Sea and are still on the list, because the Caspian is a lake in spite of its name. Britannica calls it the largest inland body of water in the world.

How many landlocked countries are there?

I count 44: the 43 UN member states without a coast, plus Vatican City, whose Holy See takes part at the UN as a non-member observer. I sort them by the UN's own regions, which gives 16 in Africa, 14 in Europe, 12 in Asia and 2 in South America. The UN puts Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in Asia. Some lists put them in Europe, which changes the continent counts but not the total.

You will also see 45 or more. Kosovo is landlocked and declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The United States and most EU members recognise it, Serbia and Russia do not, and it is not a UN member. Add it and the total is 45. Lists that also count breakaway regions such as South Ossetia and Transnistria go higher still.

The UN lists 32 of the 44 as landlocked developing countries. It tracks them as a group because their trade has to cross another country to reach a port, and it estimates that being landlocked leaves them about 20 percent less developed than they would otherwise be. The other 12 are all in Europe, Switzerland and Austria among them.

Landlocked countries in Africa (16)

Africa has the most. They run in a band across the middle of the continent, from Mali and Burkina Faso in the west to South Sudan and Ethiopia in the east, and a second group sits in the south around Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Ethiopia lost its coast in 1993, when Eritrea became independent. South Sudan has had none since the day it split from Sudan in 2011. Lesotho lies entirely inside South Africa, and Eswatini borders only South Africa and Mozambique.

Burundi moved its political capital from Bujumbura to Gitega in 2019. Eswatini splits its capital: the government works from Mbabane, while parliament meets at Lobamba.

The 16 landlocked countries in Africa

Country	Capital
Botswana	Gaborone
Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou
Burundi	Gitega
Central African Republic	Bangui
Chad	N'Djamena
Eswatini	Mbabane and Lobamba
Ethiopia	Addis Ababa
Lesotho	Maseru
Malawi	Lilongwe
Mali	Bamako

Show all 16

Landlocked countries in Europe (14)

Europe has the four smallest: Vatican City, San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra. Vatican City and San Marino both sit entirely inside Italy, Vatican City within the city of Rome.

Serbia lost its coast in 2006, when Montenegro, which held the whole Adriatic shore of their union, became independent. Liechtenstein, between Switzerland and Austria, is one of the two doubly landlocked countries in the world.

The 14 landlocked countries in Europe

Country	Capital
Andorra	Andorra la Vella
Austria	Vienna
Belarus	Minsk
Czechia	Prague
Hungary	Budapest
Liechtenstein	Vaduz
Luxembourg	Luxembourg
Moldova	Chișinău
North Macedonia	Skopje
San Marino	San Marino

Show all 14

Landlocked countries in Asia (12)

Asia has the two largest, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Mongolia has just two neighbours, Russia to the north and China to the south.

Five of the 12 are the Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, and Nepal and Bhutan sit in the Himalayas between India and China.

The 12 landlocked countries in Asia

Country	Capital
Afghanistan	Kabul
Armenia	Yerevan
Azerbaijan	Baku
Bhutan	Thimphu
Kazakhstan	Astana
Kyrgyzstan	Bishkek
Laos	Vientiane
Mongolia	Ulaanbaatar
Nepal	Kathmandu
Tajikistan	Dushanbe
Turkmenistan	Ashgabat
Uzbekistan	Tashkent

Landlocked countries in South America (2)

Bolivia lost its coast to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879 to 1884). It took the matter to the International Court of Justice, which ruled in 2018 that Chile had not taken on a legal obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific for Bolivia. Bolivia also has two capitals: Sucre under the constitution, and La Paz, where the government sits.

Paraguay reaches the Atlantic by river, along the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway it shares with Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay.

The 2 landlocked countries in South America

Country	Capital
Bolivia	Sucre and La Paz
Paraguay	Asunción

Largest, smallest and most populated landlocked countries

Kazakhstan is the largest, at 2,724,902 km² on the World Bank's figures, and ninth in size among all countries. Mongolia is second at 1,564,116 km², then Chad, Niger and Mali.

Vatican City is the smallest, at 0.44 km², and it is also the smallest country in the world. It has the fewest people too, about 500 by the UN's estimate. San Marino (61 km²) and Liechtenstein (160 km²) come next in size.

Ethiopia has the most people, about 135 million in 2025, ahead of Uganda (51 million) and Afghanistan (44 million). Altogether about 666 million people live in the 44 landlocked countries. That is roughly 8 in every 100 people on Earth, and 6 in 10 of them live in Africa.

• Kazakhstan

  Area (km²):

  2,724,902

  Population (2025):

  20,843,754

• Mongolia

  Area (km²):

  1,564,116

  Population (2025):

  3,517,100

• Chad

  Area (km²):

  1,284,000

  Population (2025):

  21,003,705

• Niger

  Area (km²):

  1,267,000

  Population (2025):

  27,917,831

• Mali

  Area (km²):

  1,241,238

  Population (2025):

  25,198,821

• Ethiopia

  Area (km²):

  1,129,819

  Population (2025):

  135,472,051

• Bolivia

  Area (km²):

  1,098,580

  Population (2025):

  12,581,843

• Zambia

  Area (km²):

  752,612

  Population (2025):

  21,913,874

• Afghanistan

  Area (km²):

  652,870

  Population (2025):

  43,844,111

• South Sudan

  Area (km²):

  646,883

  Population (2025):

  12,188,788

All 44 landlocked countries by area and population

Country	Area (km²)	Population (2025)
Kazakhstan	2,724,902	20,843,754
Mongolia	1,564,116	3,517,100
Chad	1,284,000	21,003,705
Niger	1,267,000	27,917,831
Mali	1,241,238	25,198,821
Ethiopia	1,129,819	135,472,051
Bolivia	1,098,580	12,581,843
Zambia	752,612	21,913,874
Afghanistan	652,870	43,844,111
South Sudan	646,883	12,188,788

Show all 44

Area is the World Bank's surface area for 2024, which includes lakes and rivers inside the border. Vatican City's area comes from the UN Demographic Yearbook 2024. Population is the UN's estimate for 1 July 2025. Serbia's area includes Kosovo, but its population does not.

The two doubly landlocked countries

A doubly landlocked country is surrounded only by other landlocked countries, so the way to the sea crosses at least two borders. Two countries fit: Liechtenstein, which borders Switzerland and Austria, and Uzbekistan, whose five neighbours are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

Uzbekistan counts as doubly landlocked only because the Caspian counts as a lake. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan both reach the Caspian Sea, but neither of them counts as coastal.

Landlocked countries with a navy

Having no coast does not stop a country from keeping a navy. Several landlocked countries run naval forces on lakes, on rivers or on the Caspian:

• Bolivia's navy patrols Lake Titicaca and the country's rivers. It also exists to keep alive Bolivia's claim to the coast it lost.
• Paraguay's navy patrols the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway.
• Kazakhstan has had naval forces on the Caspian Sea since 1993, with a base at Aktau. Azerbaijan keeps a navy on the Caspian too.
• Serbia has a River Flotilla, an army unit built for rivers, canals and lakes, which trains on the Danube.
• Ethiopia dissolved its navy in the years after Eritrea's independence in 1993 cost it its coast. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in 2018 that he would bring it back, and in 2025 Ethiopia signed a training agreement with Russia.

your turn!

Can you find them on a map?

The World Map Quiz names a country and you find it on a blank world map, with three lives. Landlocked ones have no coastline to give them away.

Play World Map Quiz