Which European country has the longest coastline?

Norway has the longest coastline of any European country. Its coast is extraordinarily long because it is broken by deep fjords, countless skerries, bays, and offshore islands stretching along the North Atlantic and Barents Sea.

The figure depends on how the coast is measured. Norway’s mainland coastline is often given as roughly 29,000 kilometres when fjords are included, while measurements that add the coastlines of islands produce estimates exceeding 80,000 kilometres. This is an example of the coastline paradox: smaller measuring scales reveal more inlets and irregularities.

Norway’s famous fjords were carved by glaciers over repeated ice ages. Sognefjord, the country’s longest and deepest fjord, reaches far inland and helps explain why Norway’s shoreline is so much longer than its relatively modest land area suggests. A common mix-up is Greece, whose many islands give it a very long Mediterranean coastline, but Norway remains the standard answer for Europe.