Which Countries Border the Most Other Countries?
China and Russia tie at 14 neighbors. Then the rules start to matter: overseas territories, disputed regions and special zones all change the answer.
One country, two neighbor counts
China and Russia border more countries than anyone else: 14 each. Brazil is next with 10, then the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Germany with 9. That's the standard answer, and it's the one you'll find on almost every list.
Now ask the same question a slightly different way and the numbers move. France has 8 neighbors in Europe and 11 once you count its overseas territories. China jumps to 16 if you count Hong Kong and Macao as borders. Russia hits 16 if you recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as countries. Same map, different rules.
Countries with the most land neighbors
| Country | Neighbors | Who they are |
|---|---|---|
| China | 14 | Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam |
| Russia | 14 | Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea |
| Brazil | 10 | Every South American country except Chile and Ecuador. French Guiana makes France the tenth |
| Germany | 9 | Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands |
| DR Congo | 9 | Ties Germany for fourth place |
| Six countries | 8 | France (mainland), Turkey, Austria, Tanzania, Serbia and Zambia |
Why do the lists disagree?
Nobody is miscounting. Each list quietly answers a different question. Does a territory far from home count? Is a disputed region a country? Does a special administrative region count as a separate neighbor? Once you know the rule a list is using, the numbers stop looking contradictory.
| Country | Usual count | Alternate count | What changes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 14 | 16 | Counting Hong Kong and Macao as land borders |
| Russia | 14 | 16 | Treating Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate states |
| France | 8 | 11 | French Guiana adds Brazil and Suriname, and the island of Saint Martin adds one more |
| Brazil | 9 | 10 | Counting France as a neighbor through French Guiana |
One more rule trips people up: a bridge or tunnel doesn't create a land border. That's why Denmark, which is linked to Sweden by the Øresund Bridge, is usually listed with exactly one land neighbor, Germany.
So which country really borders the most?
China and Russia, under the rule almost everyone uses: independent countries, mainland borders. The tie is solid. What you shouldn't trust is any list that puts France or Brazil in a different slot without telling you whether overseas territories count. That's the detail that decides it.
Try one pick
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Keep reading
Counts that shift with the definition are a pattern in geography. Our guide to which countries have the most islands shows the same thing on a bigger scale.
Sources
Figures compiled from Wikipedia's list of land borders, its list of land and maritime borders, and Geography Worlds, and cross-checked against Study Wrap. Counting rules differ by source, so totals are not always directly comparable.