Which country contains the Great Barrier Reef?

Australia contains the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, off the coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea.

The reef stretches for more than 2,300 kilometres and consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and about 900 islands. It is built by billions of tiny coral animals called polyps, whose limestone skeletons accumulate over generations. The modern reef began developing on an older platform after the last Ice Age, as rising seas submerged parts of Queensland’s coastal plain.

The Great Barrier Reef is not a single continuous wall and does not belong to several countries. Its marine ecosystem lies within Australian waters, although the reef’s northern extent approaches the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have longstanding cultural connections with its sea country.

Australia established the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in 1975, and UNESCO listed the reef as a World Heritage Site in 1981. Common mix-ups include confusing it with the Belize Barrier Reef or assuming that a reef must sit directly on a country’s mainland coast; much of this one lies offshore.