The countries of Oceania

Fourteen countries, a single land border on the entire continent, and three of the smallest states on the planet.

Reference · 14 countries · game data, updated August 2026

Oceania has 14 countries — the smallest total of any continent. It is also the most scattered: its states are spread across a third of the globe's surface, almost all of it ocean.

A single land border

This is the continent's most striking feature: of its 14 countries, only one touches another by land. Papua New Guinea shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia — which is itself Asian. Every other country in Oceania is insular, with no land neighbour at all.

That has a direct consequence in the game: Borders mode, which asks you to link two countries step by step, simply cannot work on this continent.

Australia against all the rest

At around 7.7 million km², Australia alone accounts for nearly 86 % of the continent's land area, and 27 million of its roughly 45 million inhabitants. Papua New Guinea (11 million) and New Zealand (5 million) follow far behind.

The smallest countries in the world

Nauru (21 km²), Tuvalu (30 km²) and the Marshall Islands (180 km²) are among the smallest sovereign states on the planet — only the Vatican, Monaco and San Marino are smaller. Nauru is also the least populous country after the Vatican, with fewer than 12,000 inhabitants.

That narrow pool has a concrete consequence: several GeoG modes exclude Oceania from their most demanding variants, for lack of enough countries to fill a round.

The complete list

Country	Capital	Population	Area (km²)	Neighbours
Australia	Canberra	27,194,286	7,741,220	0
Fiji	Suva	928,784	18,270	0
Marshall Islands	Majuro	37,548	180	0
Solomon Islands	Honiara	819,198	28,900	0
Kiribati	South Tarawa	134,518	810	0
Micronesia	Palikir	113,160	700	0
Nauru	Yaren	11,947	20	0
New Zealand	Wellington	5,290,000	267,710	0
Palau	Ngerulmud	17,695	460	0
Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby	10,576,502	462,840	1
Samoa	Apia	218,019	2,840	0
Tonga	Nuku'alofa	104,175	750	0
Tuvalu	Funafuti	9,646	30	0
Vanuatu	Port Vila	327,777	12,190	0

Frequently asked

How many countries are there in Oceania?

14. It is the continent with the fewest, and the most geographically scattered.

What is the only land border in Oceania?

The one between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. Every other country on the continent is insular with no land neighbour.

What is the smallest country in Oceania?

Nauru: 21 km² and fewer than 12,000 inhabitants. It is the third-smallest sovereign state in the world after the Vatican and Monaco.

Can you place these 14 countries on a map?

GeoG's 3D Globe mode plays continent by continent: run Oceania on its own, or all 195 countries of the world.

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