Number of international land-bordering countries

This statistic reports how many other sovereign states each country shares a land border with. It counts internationally recognized adjoining land boundaries (including land borders across rivers and lakes) and includes disputed or partially controlled border sections where they are normally reported by authoritative geographic sources. Land-border counts are useful for understanding geopolitical connectedness, potential cross-border trade and migration corridors, and strategic vulnerability. Typical values range from 0 (island states) to the mid‑teens for highly bordered states (e.g., countries that touch many neighbors in continental hubs).

Counts are compiled from authoritative geographic references (national mapping agencies, the CIA World Factbook and UN cartographic resources) and cross-checked against widely used public country-border lists. Because border definitions and the recognition of some territories can vary, the methodology standardizes on commonly reported sovereign borders and notes disputed cases in caveats.