Landlocked country
As a landlocked country, each country is called, which has no direct connection to the open sea.
Worldwide, there are 44 landlocked countries ( with South Ossetia are there 45), two of which - Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan - are surrounded only by other landlocked countries. Three countries - Lesotho, San Marino and the Vatican City - are each surrounded by a single neighboring country, so are enclaves seven countries - Andorra, Bhutan, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal and Swaziland - are each between exactly two neighbors.
The largest area of the internal state and also the only landlocked country that lies on two continents, Kazakhstan. The most populous landlocked country is Ethiopia. There is no internal state on an island.
Access to the World Trade
The geographical situation of landlocked countries complicates their participation in world trade, as this is handled at long range mainly at sea. For landlocked countries need to spend an average of 15 % of their export revenues for transportation, according to a report by the United Nations. Has special significance this. Infrastructure in vulnerable areas of the Third World
31 of internationally recognized landlocked countries - the so-called Landlocked Developing Countries - are considered developing countries, 16 of them are ranked among the Least Developed Countries. Eight of the twelve least developed countries according to Human Development Index are landlocked countries worldwide.
Many landlocked countries have agreements with seaside neighboring countries to help them participate in the world trade. To the north Chilean port of Arica is for example connected by highway with La Paz, which forms together with El Alto Bolivia's largest metropolitan area. Arica is in this case used by Bolivia as a free port.
Also inland waterways often serve as access to the sea. Thus, over 10% of goods imported (petroleum, mining, food, heavy goods) is handled in the Switzerland of Rotterdam on the Rhine to Basel. For Austria, the same is true across the Rhine -Main-Danube Canal to Linz, Krems and Vienna. The Danube is the main transport route for the landlocked countries Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia. For the countries bordering the Caspian Sea, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, offers the Volga - Don canal access to the world's oceans.
The struggle for access to the sea can exacerbate conflicts. So Ethiopia has long been unwilling to accept the independence of Eritrea, as this province was the only access to the sea for Ethiopia. The Polish Corridor, which was created after the First World War between East Prussia and the German Empire, was so important for the same reason for the newly founded Poland. Controversial was the Slovenian- Croatian maritime border in the Bay of Piran. Slovenia is cut by Italian and Croatian territorial waters in international waters.
List of landlocked countries
Legend: * surrounded within a single other State / ** between two other States / *** only of landlocked countries
European cluster (8 ) (9)
- Switzerland
- Liechtenstein ** / ***
- Austria
- Czechia
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Serbia
- Macedonia
- (Kosovo)
Individual land-locked countries
- Andorra **
- Luxembourg
- San Marino *
- Vatican City *
- Moldova **
- Belarus
Central Asian cluster (6 )
- Kazakhstan
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan ***
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tajikistan
- Afghanistan
Caucasian cluster ( 2)
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
Individual land-locked countries
- Mongolia **
- Nepal **
- Bhutan **
- Laos
- ( South Ossetia **)
Central African cluster (10 )
South African cluster ( 4)
- Botswana
- Zimbabwe
- Zambia
- Malawi
Individual land-locked countries
- Lesotho *
- Swaziland **
South American cluster ( 2)
- Bolivia
- Paraguay
The island rich Oceania there are no internal states, nor in North America.
Some of these countries possessed at certain times in its history has direct access to the sea, such as Austria by Trieste from 1386 to 1918, and Bolivia to the loss of the Pacific access to Chile saltpeter, other than as part of a larger state, as the Central Asian states part of the Soviet Union.