Finland's Archipelago Sea has an estimated 50,000 islands and skerries, ahead of Canada's Arctic Archipelago with 36,563 - but every count depends on whose definition of an island is used.
Finland's Archipelago Sea has the most islands of any archipelago, an estimated 50,000 islands and skerries. The Canadian Arctic Archipelago is second with 36,563 islands and the Thirty Thousand Islands of Georgian Bay third with around 30,000. The ranking uses island counts from a named source for each entry, which define an island differently, following Wikipedia's list read 18 October 2026.
An archipelago is a group of islands in the same body of water. The biggest by island count are not the biggest by area: rocky, ice-scoured coasts in Finland, Sweden and Canada are broken into tens of thousands of small islands and skerries. This list ranks ten archipelagos by island count. There is no single global census, so each count comes from a named source, and the sources use different definitions of an island. Treat close numbers as roughly equal.
The Archipelago Sea, between mainland Finland and the Åland Islands in the Baltic, is estimated to have about 50,000 islands if the smallest rocks and skerries are counted. Only 257 are larger than 1 square kilometre and about 17,700 are larger than 0.5 hectares. Roughly 60,000 people live on the islands, about 27,000 of them on Åland.
Canada's Arctic Archipelago has 36,563 islands, 94 of them classed as major islands larger than 130 square kilometres, including Baffin Island at 507,451 square kilometres. The islands cover about 1.4 million square kilometres, and the 2021 census counted about 23,000 residents.
The Thirty Thousand Islands along the east side of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, Ontario, are the world's largest freshwater archipelago, with around 30,000 islands. UNESCO designated the area as the Georgian Bay biosphere reserve in 2004.
The Malay Archipelago between mainland Southeast Asia and Australia has more than 25,000 islands and islets and is the largest archipelago in the world by area, at about 2.87 million square kilometres. It takes in Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, East Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Singapore, so it includes the Indonesian islands ranked separately below.
Statistics Sweden counted slightly over 24,000 islands, islets and skerries in the Stockholm Archipelago, between Arholma and Landsort. The archipelago covers about 1,700 square kilometres, of which about 530 are land, and has around 10,000 permanent residences and 50,000 holiday homes. Some travel sources round it up to 30,000 islands.
Indonesia officially lists 17,508 islands under its 1996 maritime territory law, the figure the CIA World Factbook also uses. Other counts differ: 17,024 islands had been named in the national gazetteer by 2023, and a 2022 satellite census counted 13,558.
Lake of the Woods, shared by Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota, has 14,632 islands according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. The lake covers about 4,350 square kilometres and has about 105,000 km (65,000 miles) of shoreline.
Japan has 14,125 islands according to a 2023 digital-map recount by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, more than double the 6,852 in official use since 1987. The authority counts natural land of at least 100 m in circumference; the higher total reflects better maps, not new land.
The Öregrund archipelago is the archipelago of Uppsala County, Sweden, off the town of Öregrund in the Baltic Sea. Statistics Sweden counted 9,722 islands. It joins the Stockholm Archipelago to the south.
The Östergötland archipelago on Sweden's Baltic coast has 8,888 islands according to Statistics Sweden.
| # | Name | Country | Count by | What is counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Archipelago Sea | Finland | National Geographic Education (estimate) | Islands, islets and skerries |
| 2 | Canadian Arctic Archipelago | Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia | All islands |
| 3 | Thirty Thousand Islands | Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia (estimate) | All islands |
| 4 | Malay Archipelago | Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore | National Geographic Education (estimate) | Islands and islets |
| 5 | Stockholm Archipelago | Sweden | Statistics Sweden (2008) | Islands, islets and skerries |
| 6 | Indonesian Archipelago | Indonesia | Government of Indonesia (Law No. 9/1996) | Officially listed islands |
| 7 | Lake of the Woods | Canada and United States | The Canadian Encyclopedia | All islands |
| 8 | Japanese Archipelago | Japan | Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (2023) | Natural land of at least 100 m circumference |
| 9 | Öregrund Archipelago | Sweden | Statistics Sweden (2008) | All islands |
| 10 | Östergötland Archipelago | Sweden | Statistics Sweden (2008) | All islands |
Archipelagos are ranked by island count as published by the source named for each entry. The list of archipelagos follows Wikipedia's List of archipelagos by number of islands (read 18 October 2026), with three changes to use the official national counts. Japan uses the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan's 2023 recount (14,125 natural land areas of at least 100 m circumference) rather than the 1987 figure of 6,852 on the Wikipedia list. Indonesia uses the 17,508 islands officially listed under Law No. 9/1996, also used by the CIA World Factbook. A 2022 satellite census (Andréfouët et al.) counted 13,558, which would place Indonesia below Lake of the Woods and Japan. Sweden's archipelagos all use Statistics Sweden's 2008 island statistics: Stockholm about 24,000, Öregrund 9,722 and Östergötland 8,888. The Småland archipelago's often-quoted 12,740 is left out because no source for it could be found. Counts for the Archipelago Sea, Thirty Thousand Islands and Malay Archipelago are rounded estimates. The Malay Archipelago contains Indonesia and the Philippines, so those counts overlap. No two entries tie on the figures used. The next archipelago is the Philippines with 7,641 islands.
Finland's Archipelago Sea, estimated at about 50,000 islands and skerries. Next is Canada's Arctic Archipelago with 36,563 islands.
There is no single definition of an island. Some counts include every rock above water, while others set a minimum size, such as Japan's 100 m circumference rule. Better maps also change counts: Japan's total rose from 6,852 to 14,125 in 2023 with no change in land area.
The Malay Archipelago, at about 2.87 million square kilometres. It includes Indonesia and the Philippines.
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