The ten countries with the largest exclusive economic zones, where scattered overseas islands let France, New Zealand and the UK claim more ocean than giants like Canada and Brazil.
Quick answer: 1. United States, 2. France, 3. Australia, 4. Russia, 5. New Zealand, 6. United Kingdom, 7. Indonesia, 8. Canada, 9. Japan, 10. Brazil.
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is the band of sea, up to 200 nautical miles from a country's coast, in which that country has sole rights to fish, drill and mine under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Because every island generates its own 200-mile circle, the world's biggest maritime powers are not always the biggest countries on land. This list ranks the ten largest EEZs by area using one consistent, equal-area calculation. It is for anyone curious why a small European country controls ocean on every side of the planet, or why sea area and land area tell such different stories.
The US controls about 12.2 million km2 of ocean, driven by Alaska, Hawaii and a string of Pacific territories from Guam to American Samoa. NOAA puts the US EEZ at more than 3.4 million square nautical miles, larger than the country's combined land area.
France holds about 10.1 million km2 of EEZ, roughly 15 times its land area, and around 97% of it lies overseas. French Polynesia alone accounts for more than 4.5 million km2, according to France's official maritime-limits portal.
Australia's zone of about 9.0 million km2 wraps the continent and remote external territories such as Heard and McDonald, Christmas, Cocos and Norfolk islands. Geoscience Australia gives a larger 10.07 million km2 total if the zone off the Australian Antarctic Territory is included.
The largest country on land ranks fourth at sea, with about 7.7 million km2, almost all of it along its long Arctic and Pacific coastlines. Its EEZ is less than half its land area, one of the lowest ratios in the top 10.
At about 6.7 million km2 in this calculation, New Zealand's sea area is roughly 25 times its land area. The figure is the most source-sensitive on the list: New Zealand proper is usually quoted at about 4.1 million km2, with the rest coming from associated Pacific territories.
The UK's 6.6 million km2 comes mostly from British Overseas Territories scattered across the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans, from the Falklands to Pitcairn. That gives it the highest sea-to-land ratio in the top 10, at about 27 to 1.
The world's largest archipelagic state earns about 6.0 million km2 of EEZ from its home islands alone, with no overseas territories. Its sea area is roughly three times its land area.
Canada has the world's longest coastline, but much of it faces enclosed Arctic channels, so its EEZ of about 5.8 million km2 ranks eighth. Its sea area is well under its land area.
Japan's chain of more than 14,000 islands gives it about 4.3 million km2 of EEZ, more than 11 times its land area. The Japan Coast Guard cites about 4.47 million km2 including territorial sea, and the total includes zones around contested islands.
Brazil rounds out the top 10 with about 3.7 million km2, extended into the Atlantic by oceanic islands such as Fernando de Noronha and Trindade. Chile is a close 11th at about 3.6 million km2.
| # | Name | EEZ area | Land area | Sea-to-land ratio | Overseas territories counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 12,168,352 km² | 9,629,091 km² | 1.3 | Yes |
| 2 | France | 10,070,754 km² | 671,308 km² | 15 | Yes |
| 3 | Australia | 9,025,053 km² | 7,692,060 km² | 1.2 | Yes |
| 4 | Russia | 7,734,475 km² | 17,125,191 km² | 0.45 | No overseas territories |
| 5 | New Zealand | 6,712,847 km² | 270,479 km² | 24.8 | Yes |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 6,621,856 km² | 242,900 km² | 27.3 | Yes |
| 7 | Indonesia | 6,025,110 km² | 1,910,931 km² | 3.2 | No overseas territories |
| 8 | Canada | 5,793,222 km² | 9,984,670 km² | 0.58 | No overseas territories |
| 9 | Japan | 4,317,017 km² | 377,930 km² | 11.4 | No overseas territories |
| 10 | Brazil | 3,677,581 km² | 8,515,767 km² | 0.43 | No overseas territories |
Countries are ranked by total EEZ area in square kilometres as calculated by Geoconfluences (ENS de Lyon, French Ministry of Education), in the article 'Mesurer les zones economiques exclusives' by Jean-Benoit Bouron (March 2017). That calculation uses the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase (2016), measured on the Mollweide equal-area projection, and aggregates every zone belonging to a sovereign state, including overseas territories and dependencies. Antarctica is tallied as a separate entity, so Antarctic territorial claims (frozen under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty) are not counted toward any country. Figures include zones in disputed waters where the country asserts a boundary. Other sources disagree, sometimes sharply: a widely copied table (Vivid Maps, reproduced on Wikipedia) puts France first at about 11.7 million km2, and New Zealand's figure ranges from about 4.1 million km2 for New Zealand proper to 6.7 million km2 here, which appears to include the zones of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau in the Realm of New Zealand. Government cross-checks from Geoscience Australia, NOAA, France's official maritime-limits portal and the Japan Coast Guard are listed in the sources. Land areas are from the same Geoconfluences table; the sea-to-land ratio is EEZ area divided by land area. The European Union, which would top the list as a bloc, is excluded because it is not a country.
In this equal-area calculation, the United States has the largest EEZ at about 12.2 million km2, with France second at about 10.1 million km2. Some widely shared tables put France first; the difference comes from how each source draws boundaries and what it includes.
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, an EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles (about 370 km) from a country's coastal baselines. Within it, the coastal state has sovereign rights over fishing, oil, gas and seabed minerals, while other countries keep freedom of navigation and overflight.
Because of its overseas territories. French Polynesia, New Caledonia, the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Reunion and others each generate their own 200-mile zone. Mainland France accounts for only about 3% of the total.
Not in this ranking. Territorial claims in Antarctica are frozen under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, and the source tallies Antarctica separately. Including them would raise Australia's total to about 10.07 million km2, per Geoscience Australia.
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