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Landlocked country

A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked de facto states. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country while Ethiopia is the world’s most populous landlocked country.[1]

Landlocked countries: 42 landlocked (green), 2 doubly landlocked[a] (purple)

In 1990, there were only 30 landlocked countries in the world. The dissolutions of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia; the breakup of Yugoslavia; the independence referendums of South Ossetia (partially recognized), Eritrea, Montenegro, South Sudan, and the Luhansk People's Republic (partially recognized); and the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo (partially recognized) created 15 new landlocked countries and 5 partially recognized landlocked states while the former landlocked country of Czechoslovakia ceased to exist on 1 January 1993. On 5 October 2022, the Luhansk People's Republic was annexed by Russia and ceased to exist as a de facto landlocked state.

Generally, being landlocked creates some political and economic disadvantages that having access to international waters would avoid. For this reason, nations large and small throughout history have sought to gain access to open waters, even at great expense in wealth, bloodshed, and political capital.

The economic disadvantages of being landlocked can be alleviated or aggravated depending on degree of development, surrounding trade routes and freedom of trade, language barriers, and other considerations. Some landlocked countries in Europe are affluent, such as Andorra, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino, Switzerland, and Vatican City, all of which, excluding Luxembourg (a founding member of NATO), frequently employ neutrality in global political issues. However, 32 out of the 44 landlocked countries, including all the landlocked countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, have been classified as the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) by the United Nations.[2] Nine of the twelve countries with the lowest Human Development Indices (HDI) are landlocked.[3] International initiatives are aimed at reducing inequalities resulting from issues such as these, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10, which aims to reduce inequality substantially by 2030.[4]

Significance

 
Bolivia's loss of its coastline in the War of the Pacific (1879–1884) remains a major political issue

Historically, being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a country's development. It cuts a nation off from important sea resources such as fishing, and impedes or prevents direct access to maritime trade, a crucial component of economic and social advance. As such, coastal regions, or inland regions that have access to the World Ocean, tended to be wealthier and more heavily populated than inland regions that have no access to the World Ocean. Paul Collier in his book The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographical neighbourhood is one of four major development "traps" by which a country can be held back. In general, he found that when a neighbouring country experiences better growth, it tends to spill over into favorable development for the country itself. For landlocked countries, the effect is particularly strong, as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world. He states, "If you are coastal, you serve the world; if you are landlocked, you serve your neighbors."[5] Others have argued that being landlocked has an advantage as it creates a "natural tariff barrier" that protects the country from cheap imports. In some instances, this has led to more robust local food systems.[6][7]

Landlocked developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries (in Asia the ratio is 3:1).[8]

Historically, traveling between a landlocked country and a country which did not border said country required the traveler to pass border controls twice or more. In recent times the advent of air travel has largely negated this impediment.

Actions to avoid being landlocked

Countries have acted to overcome being landlocked by acquiring land that reaches the sea:

Trade agreements

Countries can make agreements on getting free transport of goods through neighbouring countries:

  • The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to offer Czechoslovakia a lease for 99 years of parts of the ports in Hamburg and Stettin, allowing Czechoslovakia sea trade via the Elbe and Oder rivers. Stettin was annexed[11] by Poland after World War II, but Hamburg continued the contract so that part of the port (now called Moldauhafen) until 2028 could be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic.
  • The Danube is an international waterway, and thus landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, and Slovakia have secure access to the Black Sea (the same access is given to inland parts of Germany and Croatia, though Germany and Croatia are not landlocked). However, oceangoing ships cannot use the Danube, so cargo must be transloaded anyway, and many overseas imports into Austria and Hungary use land transport from Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. A similar situation exists for the Rhine river where Switzerland has boat access, but not oceangoing ships. Luxembourg has such through the Moselle, but Liechtenstein has no boat access, even though it is located along the Rhine, as the Rhine is not navigable that far upstream.
  • The Mekong is an international waterway so that landlocked Laos has access to the South China Sea (since Laos became independent from French Indochina). However, it is not navigable above the Khone Phapheng Falls.
  • Free ports allow transshipment to short-distance ships or river vessels.
  • The TIR Convention allows sealed road transport without customs checks and charges, mostly in Europe.

Political repercussions

Losing access to the sea is generally a great loss to a nation, politically, militarily, and economically. The following are examples of countries becoming landlocked.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea now gives a landlocked country a right of access to and from the sea without taxation of traffic through transit states. The United Nations has a programme of action to assist landlocked developing countries,[14] and the current responsible Undersecretary-General is Anwarul Karim Chowdhury.

Some countries have a long coastline, but much of it may not be readily usable for trade and commerce. For instance, in its early history, Russia's only ports were on the Arctic Ocean and frozen shut for much of the year. The wish to gain control of a warm-water port was a major motivator of Russian expansion towards the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, some landlocked countries can have access to the ocean along wide navigable rivers. For instance, Paraguay (and Bolivia to a lesser extent) have access to the ocean through the Paraguay and Paraná rivers.

Several countries have coastlines on landlocked bodies of water, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. Since these seas are in effect lakes without access to wider seaborne trade, countries such as Kazakhstan are still considered landlocked. Although the Caspian Sea is connected to the Black Sea via the man-made Volga–Don Canal, large oceangoing ships are unable to traverse it.

By degree

Landlocked countries may be bordered by a single country having direct access to the high seas, two or more such countries, or be surrounded by other landlocked countries, making a country doubly landlocked.

Landlocked by a single country

Three countries are landlocked by a single country (enclaved countries):

Landlocked by two countries

Seven landlocked countries are surrounded by only two mutually bordering neighbours (semi-enclaved countries):

To this group could be added three landlocked territories, two of them are de facto states with no or limited international recognition:

Doubly landlocked

A country is "doubly landlocked" or "double-landlocked" when it is surrounded only by landlocked countries (requiring the crossing of at least two national borders to reach a coastline).[19][20] There are two such countries:

To this group could be added one doubly landlocked territory that is a de facto state with no or limited international recognition:

After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Württemberg became a doubly landlocked state, bordering Bavaria, Baden, Switzerland, the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Wimpfen exclave), Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The latter two were themselves landlocked between each other, Württemberg and Baden. In 1866 they became an exclave of Prussia, giving Württemberg a border with a coastal country but any path to a coast would still lead across at least two borders. The Free City of Frankfurt which was independent between 1815 and 1866 was doubly landlocked as it bordered the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Hesse-Homburg, and Nassau. In the German Confederation there were several other landlocked states that only bordered landlocked states and landlocked exclaves of coastal states: the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Hesse-Homburg, Nassau (all until 1866), Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Saxe-Hildburghausen (both until 1826), and Reuss, elder line (until 1871). All of these bordered Prussia but not the main territory with sea access.

There were no doubly landlocked countries from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the end of World War I. Liechtenstein bordered the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had an Adriatic coastline, and Uzbekistan was then part of the Russian Empire, which had both ocean and sea access.

With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and creation of an independent, landlocked Austria, Liechtenstein became the sole doubly landlocked country until 1938. In the Anschluss that year, Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany, which possessed a border on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. After World War II, Austria regained its independence and Liechtenstein once again became doubly landlocked.

Uzbekistan, which had been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, gained its independence with the dissolution of the latter in 1991 and became the second doubly landlocked country.

However, Uzbekistan's doubly landlocked status depends on the Caspian Sea's status dispute: some countries, especially Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, claim that the Caspian Sea should be considered as a real sea (mainly because this way they would have larger oil and gas fields), which would make Uzbekistan only a simple landlocked country since its neighbours Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have access to the Caspian Sea.

List of landlocked countries and landlocked de facto states

Country Area (km2) Population Continent UN subregion Surrounding countries Count
Internationally recognized landlocked countries
  Afghanistan 652,230 33,369,945 Asia Southern Asia China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan 6
  Andorra 468 77,543 Europe Southern Europe France and Spain 2
  Armenia 29,743 3,254,300 Asia Western Asia Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey 4
  Austria 83,871 8,823,054 Europe Western Europe The Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland 8
  Azerbaijan[a] 86,600 8,997,401 Asia Western Asia Armenia, Artsakh[b], Georgia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey 5 or 6
  Belarus 207,600 9,484,300 Europe Eastern Europe Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine 5
  Bhutan 38,394 691,141 Asia Southern Asia China and India 2
  Bolivia 1,098,581 10,907,778 Americas South America Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru 5
  Botswana 582,000 1,990,876 Africa Southern Africa Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe 4
  Burkina Faso 274,222 15,746,232 Africa Western Africa Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Togo 6
  Burundi 27,834 10,557,259 Africa Eastern Africa DR Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania 3
  Central African Republic 622,984 4,422,000 Africa Middle Africa Cameroon, Chad, the Congo, DR Congo, South Sudan, and the Sudan 6
  Chad 1,284,000 13,670,084 Africa Middle Africa Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, and the Sudan 6
  Czech Republic 78,867 10,674,947 Europe Eastern Europe Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia 4
  Eswatini 17,364 1,185,000 Africa Southern Africa Mozambique and South Africa 2
  Ethiopia 1,104,300 101,853,268 Africa Eastern Africa Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and the Sudan 6
  Hungary 93,028 9,797,561 Europe Eastern Europe Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine 7
  Kazakhstan[a] 2,724,900 19,644,100 Asia Central Asia China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan 5
  Kyrgyzstan 199,951 5,482,000 Asia Central Asia China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan 4
  Laos 236,800 7,123,205 Asia South-eastern Asia Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam 5
  Lesotho[c] 30,355 2,067,000 Africa Southern Africa South Africa 1
  Liechtenstein[d] 160 35,789 Europe Western Europe Austria and Switzerland 2
  Luxembourg 2,586 502,202 Europe Western Europe Belgium, France, and Germany 3
  Malawi 118,484 15,028,757 Africa Eastern Africa Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia 3
  Mali 1,240,192 14,517,176 Africa Western Africa Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal 7
  Moldova 33,846 3,559,500 Europe Eastern Europe Romania, Transnistria[b], and Ukraine 2 or 3
  Mongolia 1,566,500 3,406,916 Asia Eastern Asia China and Russia 2
    Nepal 147,181 26,494,504 Asia Southern Asia China and India 2
  Niger 1,267,000 15,306,252 Africa Western Africa Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, and Nigeria 7
  North Macedonia 25,713 2,114,550 Europe Southern Europe Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo[b], and Serbia 4 or 5
  Paraguay 406,752 6,349,000 Americas South America Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil 3
  Rwanda 26,338 10,746,311 Africa Eastern Africa Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda 4
  San Marino[c] 61 31,716 Europe Southern Europe Italy 1
  Serbia 88,361 6,926,705 Europe Southern Europe Albania (via Kosovo and Metohija), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo[b], Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Romania 8
  Slovakia 49,035 5,429,763 Europe Eastern Europe Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine 5
  South Sudan 619,745 8,260,490 Africa Eastern Africa The Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Sudan, and Uganda 6
  Switzerland 41,284 8,401,120 Europe Western Europe Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Liechtenstein 5
  Tajikistan 143,100 7,349,145 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan 4
  Turkmenistan[a] 488,100 5,110,000 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan 4
  Uganda 241,038 40,322,768 Africa Eastern Africa DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania 5
  Uzbekistan[d] 449,100 32,606,007 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan 5
   Vatican City[c] 0.44 826 Europe Southern Europe Italy 1
  Zambia 752,612 12,935,000 Africa Eastern Africa Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe 8
  Zimbabwe 390,757 12,521,000 Africa Eastern Africa Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia 4
Landlocked de facto states
  Artsakh[b][d] 3,170 120,000 Asia Western Asia Azerbaijan 1
  Kosovo[b] 10,908 1,804,838 Europe Southern Europe Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia 4
  South Ossetia[b] 3,900 72,000 Asia Western Asia Georgia and Russia 2
  Transnistria[b] 4,163 505,153 Europe Eastern Europe Moldova and Ukraine 2
Total 14,776,228 475,818,737 N/A
Percentage of the World 11.4% 6.9%
a Has a coastline on the saltwater Caspian Sea
b Not fully recognized
c Landlocked by a single country
d Doubly landlocked

They can be grouped in contiguous groups as follows:[23]

Note:

  1. If Artsakh (unrecognized) is included, then Armenia, Artsakh, and Azerbaijan form the Western Asian group instead.
  2. If Transnistria (unrecognized) is included, then Moldova and Transnistria form their own Eastern European group.
  3. If it were not for the 40 km (25 mi) of coastline at Moanda, DR Congo would join the two African clusters into one, making it the biggest contiguous cluster in the world.
  4. The Central and Southern Asian cluster and the Western Asian group can be considered contiguous, joined by the landlocked Caspian Sea. Mongolia is almost a part of this cluster too, being separated from Kazakhstan by only 30 km (19 mi), across Chinese or Russian territory.

There are the following 13 "single" landlocked countries (each of them borders no other landlocked country):

Landlocked countries by continent

According to the United Nations geoscheme (excluding de facto states), Africa has the most landlocked countries, at 16, followed by Europe (14), Asia (12), and South America (2). However, if Armenia, Artsakh (unrecognized), Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and South Ossetia (partially recognized) are counted as parts of Europe, then Europe has the most landlocked countries, at 21, including all four landlocked de facto states. If these transcontinental or culturally European countries are included in Asia, then both Africa and Europe (including Kosovo and Transnistria) have the most, at 16. Depending on the status of Kazakhstan and the South Caucasusian countries, Asia has between 9 and 14, including Artsakh and South Ossetia. South America only has two landlocked countries.

Australia and North America are the only inhabited continents with no landlocked countries. Antarctica is uninhabited and has no countries. Oceania (which is usually not considered a continent but a geographical region by the English-speaking countries) also has no landlocked countries. Other than Papua New Guinea, which shares a land border with Indonesia (a transcontinental country), all the other countries in Oceania are countries without a land border.

All landlocked countries besides Bolivia and Paraguay are located in Afro-Eurasia. Though 11 island countries (including Northern Cyprus) share at least one land border with another country, none of them are landlocked.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A country is "doubly landlocked" or "double-landlocked" when it is surrounded only by other landlocked countries.

References

  1. ^ "Largest LLC". United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
  2. ^ Paudel, R. C. (2012). "Landlockedness and Economic Growth: New Evidence" (PDF). Growth and Export Performance of Developing Countries: Is Landlockedness Destiny?. Canberra, Australia: Australian National University. pp. 13–72.
  3. ^ Faye, M. L.; McArthur, J. W.; Sachs, J. D.; Snow, T. (2004). "The Challenges Facing Landlocked Developing Countries". Journal of Human Development. 5 (1): 31–68 [pp. 31–32]. doi:10.1080/14649880310001660201. S2CID 10442596.
  4. ^ "Goal 10 targets". UNDP. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  5. ^ Collier, Paul (2007). The Bottom Billion. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 56, 57. ISBN 978-0-19-537338-7.
  6. ^ Moseley, W. G.; Carney, J.; Becker, L. (2010). "Neoliberal Policy, Rural Livelihoods and Urban Food Security in West Africa: A Comparative Study of The Gambia, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 107 (13): 5774–5779. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107.5774M. doi:10.1073/pnas.0905717107. PMC 2851933. PMID 20339079.
  7. ^ Moseley, W. G. (2011). "Lessons from the 2008 Global Food Crisis: Agro-Food Dynamics in Mali". Development in Practice. 21 (4–5): 604–612. doi:10.1080/09614524.2011.561290. S2CID 153852580.
  8. ^ United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2010). Review of Maritime Transport, 2010 (PDF). New York and Geneva: United Nations. p. 160. ISBN 978-92-1-112810-9.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Jennings, Ken (19 September 2016). "This Country's Coastline Is So Short, You Could Walk It in A Day". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  10. ^ "Danube River Basin". International Waterway Governance. Retrieved June 30, 2018.)
  11. ^ Martin, McCauley (2017). The Cold War 1949-2016. New York: Routledge. pp. 4, 5, 6. ISBN 9781315213309.
  12. ^ Iyob, Ruth (1997). The Eritrean Struggle for Independence - Domination, resistance, nationalism 1941-1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–25. ISBN 0-521-47327-6.
  13. ^ Chopra, P. N.; Puri, B. N.; Das, M. N. A Comprehensive History of India. Vol. 3. p. 298.
  14. ^ UN Report 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Sweileh, Waleed M.; Al-Jabi, Samah W.; Sawalha, Ansam F.; Zyoud, Sa'ed H. (2009-04-07). "Pharmacy Education and Practice in West Bank, Palestine". American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 73 (2): 38. doi:10.5688/aj730238. ISSN 0002-9459. PMC 2690900. PMID 19513177. The West Bank is a landlocked territory on the west bank of the Jordan River in the Middle East.
  16. ^ Daghara, Azza; Al-Khatib, Issam A.; Al-Jabari, Maher (2019-06-23). "Quality of Drinking Water from Springs in Palestine: West Bank as a Case Study". Journal of Environmental and Public Health. 2019: 1–7. doi:10.1155/2019/8631732. ISSN 1687-9805. PMC 6612393. PMID 31341486. The West Bank is a landlocked region close to the Mediterranean shoreline of Western Asia
  17. ^ Musaee, Anwar H. M.; Abbas, Eeman Muhammad; Mujani, Wan Kamal; Sidik, Roziah (2014). "Financial Analysis of Waqf Real Estate Revenues in the West Bank: 1994-2014". Asian Economic and Financial Review. 4 (10): 1260–1274. The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the eastern Mediterranean coast
  18. ^ Sperti, Luigi. "Instruments and Methods for the Survey and Analysis of Amphitheatres". doi:10.1515/9789048519590-038. hdl:10278/3684456. The West Bank is a landlocked territory bordering Jordan {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ Dempsey Morais, Caitlin. "Landlocked Countries". Geolounge. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  20. ^ "Landlocked Countries". About.com. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  21. ^ "IGU regional conference on environment and quality of life in central Europe". GeoJournal. 28 (4). 1992. doi:10.1007/BF00273120. S2CID 189889904.
  22. ^ CIA World Factbook Uzbekistan
  23. ^ MacKellar, Landis; Wörgötter, Andreas; Wörz, Julia. "Economic Development Problems of Landlocked Countries" (PDF). Wien Institute for Advanced Studies. p. 12.

landlocked, country, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, 2022, . This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Landlocked country news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Landlocked redirects here For other uses see Landlocked disambiguation A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basins There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked de facto states Kazakhstan is the world s largest landlocked country while Ethiopia is the world s most populous landlocked country 1 Landlocked countries 42 landlocked green 2 doubly landlocked a purple In 1990 there were only 30 landlocked countries in the world The dissolutions of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia the breakup of Yugoslavia the independence referendums of South Ossetia partially recognized Eritrea Montenegro South Sudan and the Luhansk People s Republic partially recognized and the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo partially recognized created 15 new landlocked countries and 5 partially recognized landlocked states while the former landlocked country of Czechoslovakia ceased to exist on 1 January 1993 On 5 October 2022 the Luhansk People s Republic was annexed by Russia and ceased to exist as a de facto landlocked state Generally being landlocked creates some political and economic disadvantages that having access to international waters would avoid For this reason nations large and small throughout history have sought to gain access to open waters even at great expense in wealth bloodshed and political capital The economic disadvantages of being landlocked can be alleviated or aggravated depending on degree of development surrounding trade routes and freedom of trade language barriers and other considerations Some landlocked countries in Europe are affluent such as Andorra Austria Liechtenstein Luxembourg San Marino Switzerland and Vatican City all of which excluding Luxembourg a founding member of NATO frequently employ neutrality in global political issues However 32 out of the 44 landlocked countries including all the landlocked countries in Africa Asia and South America have been classified as the Landlocked Developing Countries LLDCs by the United Nations 2 Nine of the twelve countries with the lowest Human Development Indices HDI are landlocked 3 International initiatives are aimed at reducing inequalities resulting from issues such as these such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 which aims to reduce inequality substantially by 2030 4 Contents 1 Significance 1 1 Actions to avoid being landlocked 1 2 Trade agreements 1 3 Political repercussions 2 By degree 2 1 Landlocked by a single country 2 2 Landlocked by two countries 2 3 Doubly landlocked 3 List of landlocked countries and landlocked de facto states 4 Landlocked countries by continent 5 See also 6 Notes 7 ReferencesSignificance Edit Bolivia s loss of its coastline in the War of the Pacific 1879 1884 remains a major political issue Historically being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a country s development It cuts a nation off from important sea resources such as fishing and impedes or prevents direct access to maritime trade a crucial component of economic and social advance As such coastal regions or inland regions that have access to the World Ocean tended to be wealthier and more heavily populated than inland regions that have no access to the World Ocean Paul Collier in his book The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographical neighbourhood is one of four major development traps by which a country can be held back In general he found that when a neighbouring country experiences better growth it tends to spill over into favorable development for the country itself For landlocked countries the effect is particularly strong as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world He states If you are coastal you serve the world if you are landlocked you serve your neighbors 5 Others have argued that being landlocked has an advantage as it creates a natural tariff barrier that protects the country from cheap imports In some instances this has led to more robust local food systems 6 7 Landlocked developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries in Asia the ratio is 3 1 8 Historically traveling between a landlocked country and a country which did not border said country required the traveler to pass border controls twice or more In recent times the advent of air travel has largely negated this impediment Actions to avoid being landlocked Edit Countries have acted to overcome being landlocked by acquiring land that reaches the sea The Republic of Ragusa in 1699 gave the town of Neum to the Ottoman Empire because it did not want to have a land border with the Republic of Venice 9 This small municipality was inherited by Bosnia and Herzegovina and now provides limited sea access splitting the Croatian part of the Adriatic coast in two Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new country railways and ports have not been built for its need There is no freight port along its short coastline at Neum making it effectively landlocked although there are plans to change this Instead the Port of Ploce in Croatia is used The International Congo Society which owned the territory now constituting the Democratic Republic of the Congo was awarded a narrow piece of land cutting through Angola to connect it to the sea by the Conference of Berlin in 1885 After World War I in the Treaty of Versailles a part of Germany designated the Polish corridor was given to the new Second Polish Republic for access to the Baltic Sea This gave Poland a short coastline but without a large harbour This was also the pretext for making Danzig now Gdansk with its harbour the Free City of Danzig to which Poland was given free access However the Germans placed obstacles to this free access especially when it came to military material In response the small fishing harbour of Gdynia was soon greatly enlarged As a result of a 2005 territorial exchange with Ukraine Moldova received a 600 metre 650 yard long bank of the Danube which is an international waterway 10 subsequently building its Port of Giurgiulești there Trade agreements Edit Countries can make agreements on getting free transport of goods through neighbouring countries The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to offer Czechoslovakia a lease for 99 years of parts of the ports in Hamburg and Stettin allowing Czechoslovakia sea trade via the Elbe and Oder rivers Stettin was annexed 11 by Poland after World War II but Hamburg continued the contract so that part of the port now called Moldauhafen until 2028 could be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia the Czech Republic The Danube is an international waterway and thus landlocked Austria Hungary Moldova Serbia and Slovakia have secure access to the Black Sea the same access is given to inland parts of Germany and Croatia though Germany and Croatia are not landlocked However oceangoing ships cannot use the Danube so cargo must be transloaded anyway and many overseas imports into Austria and Hungary use land transport from Atlantic and Mediterranean ports A similar situation exists for the Rhine river where Switzerland has boat access but not oceangoing ships Luxembourg has such through the Moselle but Liechtenstein has no boat access even though it is located along the Rhine as the Rhine is not navigable that far upstream The Mekong is an international waterway so that landlocked Laos has access to the South China Sea since Laos became independent from French Indochina However it is not navigable above the Khone Phapheng Falls Free ports allow transshipment to short distance ships or river vessels The TIR Convention allows sealed road transport without customs checks and charges mostly in Europe Political repercussions Edit Losing access to the sea is generally a great loss to a nation politically militarily and economically The following are examples of countries becoming landlocked The independence of Eritrea brought about by the 30 year Eritrean War of Independence 12 caused Ethiopia to become landlocked in 1991 The Ethiopian Navy operated from foreign ports for several more years Montenegro s decision to abandon the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro caused the federal unit of Serbia to become a landlocked current independent state Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific and accepted it in treaties signed in 1884 and 1904 The last treaty gives port storage facilities and special treatment for the transit of goods from and to Bolivia through Chilean ports and territory Peru and Argentina have also given special treatment for the transit of goods A fluvial Bolivian Navy which did not exist at the time of the War of the Pacific was created later and both trains and operates in Lake Titicaca and rivers The Bolivian people annually celebrate a patriotic Dia del Mar Day of the Sea to remember its territorial loss which included both the coastal city of Antofagasta and what has proven to be one of the most significant and lucrative copper deposits in the world Early in the 21st century the selection of the route of gas pipes from Bolivia to the sea fueled popular uprisings as people were against the option of laying the pipes through Chilean territory Austria and Hungary also lost their access to the sea as a consequence of the Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye 1919 and the Treaty of Trianon 1920 respectively Previously although Croatia had a limited constitutional autonomy within the Kingdom of Hungary the City of Fiume Rijeka on the Croatian coast was governed directly from Budapest by an appointed governor as a corpus separatum to provide Hungary with its only international port in the periods 1779 1813 1822 1848 and 1868 1918 The most important ports in Austria were Trieste and Pula now in Italy and Croatia By 1801 the Nizam s dominion of Hyderabad State assumed the shape it is now remembered for that of a landlocked princely state with territories in central Deccan bounded on all sides by British India whereas 150 years earlier it had had a considerable coastline on the Bay of Bengal that was annexed by the British 13 It is possible that one of the causes of the Paraguayan War was Paraguay s lack of direct ocean access although this is disputed see the linked article When the Entente Powers divided the former Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Sevres at the close of World War I Armenia was promised part of the Trebizond vilayet roughly corresponding to the modern Trabzon and Rize provinces in Turkey This would have given Armenia access to the Black Sea However the Sevres treaty collapsed with the Turkish War of Independence and was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne 1923 which firmly established Turkish rule over the area In 2011 South Sudan broke off from the Sudan causing the former to become landlocked There still remains conflict over the oil fields in South Sudan between the two countries The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea now gives a landlocked country a right of access to and from the sea without taxation of traffic through transit states The United Nations has a programme of action to assist landlocked developing countries 14 and the current responsible Undersecretary General is Anwarul Karim Chowdhury Some countries have a long coastline but much of it may not be readily usable for trade and commerce For instance in its early history Russia s only ports were on the Arctic Ocean and frozen shut for much of the year The wish to gain control of a warm water port was a major motivator of Russian expansion towards the Baltic Sea Black Sea and Pacific Ocean On the other hand some landlocked countries can have access to the ocean along wide navigable rivers For instance Paraguay and Bolivia to a lesser extent have access to the ocean through the Paraguay and Parana rivers Several countries have coastlines on landlocked bodies of water such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea Since these seas are in effect lakes without access to wider seaborne trade countries such as Kazakhstan are still considered landlocked Although the Caspian Sea is connected to the Black Sea via the man made Volga Don Canal large oceangoing ships are unable to traverse it By degree EditLandlocked countries may be bordered by a single country having direct access to the high seas two or more such countries or be surrounded by other landlocked countries making a country doubly landlocked Landlocked by a single country Edit Three countries are landlocked by a single country enclaved countries Lesotho a state surrounded by South Africa San Marino a state surrounded by Italy Vatican City a state surrounded by Italy specifically Rome Landlocked by two countries Edit Seven landlocked countries are surrounded by only two mutually bordering neighbours semi enclaved countries Andorra between France and Spain Bhutan between China and India Eswatini between Mozambique and South Africa Liechtenstein one of the doubly landlocked countries between Austria and Switzerland Moldova if ignoring non recognized Transnistria between Romania and Ukraine Mongolia between China and Russia Nepal between China and India To this group could be added three landlocked territories two of them are de facto states with no or limited international recognition South Ossetia between Georgia and Russia de facto state Transnistria between Moldova and Ukraine de facto state West Bank between Israel and Jordan occupied territory partly administered by the State of Palestine 15 16 17 18 Doubly landlocked Edit A country is doubly landlocked or double landlocked when it is surrounded only by landlocked countries requiring the crossing of at least two national borders to reach a coastline 19 20 There are two such countries Liechtenstein in Central Europe surrounded by Austria and Switzerland 21 Uzbekistan in Central Asia surrounded by Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan and Turkmenistan 22 To this group could be added one doubly landlocked territory that is a de facto state with no or limited international recognition Artsakh also known as the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the Caucasus entirely surrounded by Azerbaijan except for a narrow land corridor to Armenia that is under the control of Russian peacekeepers Formerly de facto bordering Armenia and Iran it became doubly landlocked due to territorial losses suffered during the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire the Kingdom of Wurttemberg became a doubly landlocked state bordering Bavaria Baden Switzerland the Grand Duchy of Hesse Wimpfen exclave Hohenzollern Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern Hechingen The latter two were themselves landlocked between each other Wurttemberg and Baden In 1866 they became an exclave of Prussia giving Wurttemberg a border with a coastal country but any path to a coast would still lead across at least two borders The Free City of Frankfurt which was independent between 1815 and 1866 was doubly landlocked as it bordered the Electorate of Hesse the Grand Duchy of Hesse Hesse Homburg and Nassau In the German Confederation there were several other landlocked states that only bordered landlocked states and landlocked exclaves of coastal states the Grand Duchy of Hesse Hesse Homburg Nassau all until 1866 Saxe Coburg Saalfeld Saxe Hildburghausen both until 1826 and Reuss elder line until 1871 All of these bordered Prussia but not the main territory with sea access There were no doubly landlocked countries from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the end of World War I Liechtenstein bordered the Austro Hungarian Empire which had an Adriatic coastline and Uzbekistan was then part of the Russian Empire which had both ocean and sea access With the dissolution of Austria Hungary in 1918 and creation of an independent landlocked Austria Liechtenstein became the sole doubly landlocked country until 1938 In the Anschluss that year Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany which possessed a border on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea After World War II Austria regained its independence and Liechtenstein once again became doubly landlocked Uzbekistan which had been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union gained its independence with the dissolution of the latter in 1991 and became the second doubly landlocked country However Uzbekistan s doubly landlocked status depends on the Caspian Sea s status dispute some countries especially Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan claim that the Caspian Sea should be considered as a real sea mainly because this way they would have larger oil and gas fields which would make Uzbekistan only a simple landlocked country since its neighbours Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have access to the Caspian Sea List of landlocked countries and landlocked de facto states EditCountry Area km2 Population Continent UN subregion Surrounding countries CountInternationally recognized landlocked countries Afghanistan 652 230 33 369 945 Asia Southern Asia China Iran Pakistan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan 6 Andorra 468 77 543 Europe Southern Europe France and Spain 2 Armenia 29 743 3 254 300 Asia Western Asia Azerbaijan Georgia Iran and Turkey 4 Austria 83 871 8 823 054 Europe Western Europe The Czech Republic Germany Hungary Italy Liechtenstein Slovakia Slovenia and Switzerland 8 Azerbaijan a 86 600 8 997 401 Asia Western Asia Armenia Artsakh b Georgia Iran Russia and Turkey 5 or 6 Belarus 207 600 9 484 300 Europe Eastern Europe Latvia Lithuania Poland Russia and Ukraine 5 Bhutan 38 394 691 141 Asia Southern Asia China and India 2 Bolivia 1 098 581 10 907 778 Americas South America Argentina Brazil Chile Paraguay and Peru 5 Botswana 582 000 1 990 876 Africa Southern Africa Namibia South Africa Zambia and Zimbabwe 4 Burkina Faso 274 222 15 746 232 Africa Western Africa Benin Cote d Ivoire Ghana Mali Niger and Togo 6 Burundi 27 834 10 557 259 Africa Eastern Africa DR Congo Rwanda and Tanzania 3 Central African Republic 622 984 4 422 000 Africa Middle Africa Cameroon Chad the Congo DR Congo South Sudan and the Sudan 6 Chad 1 284 000 13 670 084 Africa Middle Africa Cameroon the Central African Republic Libya Niger Nigeria and the Sudan 6 Czech Republic 78 867 10 674 947 Europe Eastern Europe Austria Germany Poland and Slovakia 4 Eswatini 17 364 1 185 000 Africa Southern Africa Mozambique and South Africa 2 Ethiopia 1 104 300 101 853 268 Africa Eastern Africa Djibouti Eritrea Kenya Somalia South Sudan and the Sudan 6 Hungary 93 028 9 797 561 Europe Eastern Europe Austria Croatia Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia and Ukraine 7 Kazakhstan a 2 724 900 19 644 100 Asia Central Asia China Kyrgyzstan Russia Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan 5 Kyrgyzstan 199 951 5 482 000 Asia Central Asia China Kazakhstan Tajikistan and Uzbekistan 4 Laos 236 800 7 123 205 Asia South eastern Asia Cambodia China Myanmar Thailand and Vietnam 5 Lesotho c 30 355 2 067 000 Africa Southern Africa South Africa 1 Liechtenstein d 160 35 789 Europe Western Europe Austria and Switzerland 2 Luxembourg 2 586 502 202 Europe Western Europe Belgium France and Germany 3 Malawi 118 484 15 028 757 Africa Eastern Africa Mozambique Tanzania and Zambia 3 Mali 1 240 192 14 517 176 Africa Western Africa Algeria Burkina Faso Cote d Ivoire Guinea Mauritania Niger and Senegal 7 Moldova 33 846 3 559 500 Europe Eastern Europe Romania Transnistria b and Ukraine 2 or 3 Mongolia 1 566 500 3 406 916 Asia Eastern Asia China and Russia 2 Nepal 147 181 26 494 504 Asia Southern Asia China and India 2 Niger 1 267 000 15 306 252 Africa Western Africa Algeria Benin Burkina Faso Chad Libya Mali and Nigeria 7 North Macedonia 25 713 2 114 550 Europe Southern Europe Albania Bulgaria Greece Kosovo b and Serbia 4 or 5 Paraguay 406 752 6 349 000 Americas South America Argentina Bolivia and Brazil 3 Rwanda 26 338 10 746 311 Africa Eastern Africa Burundi DR Congo Tanzania and Uganda 4 San Marino c 61 31 716 Europe Southern Europe Italy 1 Serbia 88 361 6 926 705 Europe Southern Europe Albania via Kosovo and Metohija Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Hungary Kosovo b Montenegro North Macedonia and Romania 8 Slovakia 49 035 5 429 763 Europe Eastern Europe Austria the Czech Republic Hungary Poland and Ukraine 5 South Sudan 619 745 8 260 490 Africa Eastern Africa The Central African Republic DR Congo Ethiopia Kenya the Sudan and Uganda 6 Switzerland 41 284 8 401 120 Europe Western Europe Austria France Germany Italy and Liechtenstein 5 Tajikistan 143 100 7 349 145 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan China Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan 4 Turkmenistan a 488 100 5 110 000 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan Iran Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan 4 Uganda 241 038 40 322 768 Africa Eastern Africa DR Congo Kenya Rwanda South Sudan and Tanzania 5 Uzbekistan d 449 100 32 606 007 Asia Central Asia Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan and Turkmenistan 5 Vatican City c 0 44 826 Europe Southern Europe Italy 1 Zambia 752 612 12 935 000 Africa Eastern Africa Angola Botswana DR Congo Malawi Mozambique Namibia Tanzania and Zimbabwe 8 Zimbabwe 390 757 12 521 000 Africa Eastern Africa Botswana Mozambique South Africa and Zambia 4Landlocked de facto states Artsakh b d 3 170 120 000 Asia Western Asia Azerbaijan 1 Kosovo b 10 908 1 804 838 Europe Southern Europe Albania Montenegro North Macedonia and Serbia 4 South Ossetia b 3 900 72 000 Asia Western Asia Georgia and Russia 2 Transnistria b 4 163 505 153 Europe Eastern Europe Moldova and Ukraine 2Total 14 776 228 475 818 737 N APercentage of the World 11 4 6 9 a Has a coastline on the saltwater Caspian Sea b Not fully recognized c Landlocked by a single country d Doubly landlockedThey can be grouped in contiguous groups as follows 23 Eastern Middle and Western African cluster 10 Burkina Faso Burundi the Central African Republic Chad Ethiopia Mali Niger Rwanda South Sudan and Uganda Eastern Southern and Western European cluster 9 Austria the Czech Republic Hungary Kosovo partially recognized Liechtenstein North Macedonia Serbia Slovakia and Switzerland Central and Southern Asian cluster 6 Afghanistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan Eastern and Southern African cluster 4 Botswana Malawi Zambia and Zimbabwe South American group 2 Bolivia and Paraguay Western Asian group 2 Armenia and AzerbaijanNote If Artsakh unrecognized is included then Armenia Artsakh and Azerbaijan form the Western Asian group instead If Transnistria unrecognized is included then Moldova and Transnistria form their own Eastern European group If it were not for the 40 km 25 mi of coastline at Moanda DR Congo would join the two African clusters into one making it the biggest contiguous cluster in the world The Central and Southern Asian cluster and the Western Asian group can be considered contiguous joined by the landlocked Caspian Sea Mongolia is almost a part of this cluster too being separated from Kazakhstan by only 30 km 19 mi across Chinese or Russian territory There are the following 13 single landlocked countries each of them borders no other landlocked country Europe 6 Andorra Belarus Luxembourg Moldova San Marino and Vatican City the Holy See Asia 5 Bhutan Laos Mongolia Nepal and South Ossetia partially recognized Africa 2 Eswatini and LesothoLandlocked countries by continent EditAccording to the United Nations geoscheme excluding de facto states Africa has the most landlocked countries at 16 followed by Europe 14 Asia 12 and South America 2 However if Armenia Artsakh unrecognized Azerbaijan Kazakhstan and South Ossetia partially recognized are counted as parts of Europe then Europe has the most landlocked countries at 21 including all four landlocked de facto states If these transcontinental or culturally European countries are included in Asia then both Africa and Europe including Kosovo and Transnistria have the most at 16 Depending on the status of Kazakhstan and the South Caucasusian countries Asia has between 9 and 14 including Artsakh and South Ossetia South America only has two landlocked countries Australia and North America are the only inhabited continents with no landlocked countries Antarctica is uninhabited and has no countries Oceania which is usually not considered a continent but a geographical region by the English speaking countries also has no landlocked countries Other than Papua New Guinea which shares a land border with Indonesia a transcontinental country all the other countries in Oceania are countries without a land border All landlocked countries besides Bolivia and Paraguay are located in Afro Eurasia Though 11 island countries including Northern Cyprus share at least one land border with another country none of them are landlocked See also Edit Geography portalConvention on Transit Trade of Land locked States Declaration recognising the Right to a Flag of States having no Sea coast Enclave and exclave Island country List of island countries List of countries and territories by land and maritime borders List of countries that border only one other country Navies of landlocked countriesNotes Edit A country is doubly landlocked or double landlocked when it is surrounded only by other landlocked countries References Edit Largest LLC United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Paudel R C 2012 Landlockedness and Economic Growth New Evidence PDF Growth and Export Performance of Developing Countries Is Landlockedness Destiny Canberra Australia Australian National University pp 13 72 Faye M L McArthur J W Sachs J D Snow T 2004 The Challenges Facing Landlocked Developing Countries Journal of Human Development 5 1 31 68 pp 31 32 doi 10 1080 14649880310001660201 S2CID 10442596 Goal 10 targets UNDP Retrieved 2020 09 23 Collier Paul 2007 The Bottom Billion New York Oxford University Press pp 56 57 ISBN 978 0 19 537338 7 Moseley W G Carney J Becker L 2010 Neoliberal Policy Rural Livelihoods and Urban Food Security in West Africa A Comparative Study of The Gambia Cote d Ivoire and Mali Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107 13 5774 5779 Bibcode 2010PNAS 107 5774M doi 10 1073 pnas 0905717107 PMC 2851933 PMID 20339079 Moseley W G 2011 Lessons from the 2008 Global Food Crisis Agro Food Dynamics in Mali Development in Practice 21 4 5 604 612 doi 10 1080 09614524 2011 561290 S2CID 153852580 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD 2010 Review of Maritime Transport 2010 PDF New York and Geneva United Nations p 160 ISBN 978 92 1 112810 9 permanent dead link Jennings Ken 19 September 2016 This Country s Coastline Is So Short You Could Walk It in A Day Conde Nast Traveler Retrieved 2021 01 04 Danube River Basin International Waterway Governance Retrieved June 30 2018 Martin McCauley 2017 The Cold War 1949 2016 New York Routledge pp 4 5 6 ISBN 9781315213309 Iyob Ruth 1997 The Eritrean Struggle for Independence Domination resistance nationalism 1941 1993 Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 11 25 ISBN 0 521 47327 6 Chopra P N Puri B N Das M N A Comprehensive History of India Vol 3 p 298 UN Report Archived 2011 09 28 at the Wayback Machine Sweileh Waleed M Al Jabi Samah W Sawalha Ansam F Zyoud Sa ed H 2009 04 07 Pharmacy Education and Practice in West Bank Palestine American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 73 2 38 doi 10 5688 aj730238 ISSN 0002 9459 PMC 2690900 PMID 19513177 The West Bank is a landlocked territory on the west bank of the Jordan River in the Middle East Daghara Azza Al Khatib Issam A Al Jabari Maher 2019 06 23 Quality of Drinking Water from Springs in Palestine West Bank as a Case Study Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2019 1 7 doi 10 1155 2019 8631732 ISSN 1687 9805 PMC 6612393 PMID 31341486 The West Bank is a landlocked region close to the Mediterranean shoreline of Western Asia Musaee Anwar H M Abbas Eeman Muhammad Mujani Wan Kamal Sidik Roziah 2014 Financial Analysis of Waqf Real Estate Revenues in the West Bank 1994 2014 Asian Economic and Financial Review 4 10 1260 1274 The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the eastern Mediterranean coast Sperti Luigi Instruments and Methods for the Survey and Analysis of Amphitheatres doi 10 1515 9789048519590 038 hdl 10278 3684456 The West Bank is a landlocked territory bordering Jordan a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Dempsey Morais Caitlin Landlocked Countries Geolounge Retrieved November 4 2015 Landlocked Countries About com Retrieved November 4 2015 IGU regional conference on environment and quality of life in central Europe GeoJournal 28 4 1992 doi 10 1007 BF00273120 S2CID 189889904 CIA World Factbook Uzbekistan MacKellar Landis Worgotter Andreas Worz Julia Economic Development Problems of Landlocked Countries PDF Wien Institute for Advanced Studies p 12 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Landlocked country amp oldid 1128808840, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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