Which country has the most islands?
Sweden is often said to have the most islands, with about 267,570 counted. Norway, Finland and Canada also have huge numbers, and the totals depend on how an island is defined.
Counting islands is tricky because countries use different rules about the minimum size of an island and whether rocks or islets count. Sweden's count of about 267,570 includes many tiny islands along its coast and in its lakes. Only around 1,000 of them are inhabited. The Stockholm archipelago alone has about 30,000 islands and islets.
Norway reports more than 200,000 islands and skerries, and Finland has around 179,000, many of them in lakes. Canada is also thought to have tens of thousands to over 50,000 islands, including some of the world's largest, such as Baffin Island.
Island nations
Indonesia is the largest country made up entirely of islands, with more than 17,000, of which about 6,000 are inhabited. The Philippines has more than 7,600 islands. Greenland, which belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, is the world's largest island that is not a continent.
Did You Know?
Lake Huron in North America contains Manitoulin Island, the world's largest island in a freshwater lake.