Which European country is the most populous landlocked nation?

The Czech Republic is Europe’s most populous landlocked country. Located in Central Europe, it has roughly 11 million residents and no coastline, sharing borders with Germany, Poland, Austria, and Slovakia.

The country’s population is concentrated around Prague, the capital and largest city, as well as regional centres such as Brno, Ostrava, and Plzeň. The Czech Republic became independent in its current form on 1 January 1993, when Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, an event often called the Velvet Divorce.

The phrase “landlocked” means that a country has no direct access to an ocean or sea. Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary are also landlocked European countries, but each has a smaller population. The Czech Republic is sometimes officially called Czechia, the short geographic name adopted for international use in 2016; both names refer to the same country.