Largest Islands in the World


Largest Islands in the World List 🗾 What is an Island?

There is an endless debate about what actually constitutes an island. In theory, the continental landmasses could be considered the worlds biggest islands because they are surrounded by sea. For example, if Australia were to be counted among the largest islands in the world it would easily take first place because it’s three times bigger than Greenland which is the biggest island on earth. But it isn’t, so it’s not included in this officially recognized list of the 25 biggest islands in the world.

  • ADDucation’s list of largest islands in the world ranked in order was compiled by Robert Junker, last updated 18 Aug 2024.

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Largest islands in the world 🗾 Size km2 Size sq. miles Sovereignty Location Population Capital / Largest city (in bold) & facts
Greenland 2,166,086 836,326 🇩🇰 Denmark North Atlantic / Arctic 56,750 Greenland is the worlds largest island. Nuuk is home to around one third of the population of Greenland. The tallest buildings on Greenland are two residential towers at 43m (141ft).
New Guinea 786,000 303,475 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea
🇮🇩 Indonesia		 Pacific 7,500,000 New Guinea is the 2nd largest island in the world and the largest island in the pacific. Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea and the largest city on the island.
Borneo 752,000 290,347 🇧🇳 Brunei
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇮🇩 Indonesia		 Indian Ocean 16,500,000 Borneo is the third largest island in the world and largest island in the Indian ocean. Bandar Seri Begawan is the capital of Brunei, Kuching is the state capital of Sarawak, Malaysia.
Madagascar 587,041 226,597 🇲🇬 Madagascar Indian Ocean 22,000,000 Madagascar is the largest island country in the world. The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo, formerly Tananarive. Madagascar is biodiversity hotspot and sometimes described as the eighth continent of the world.
Baffin Island 470,000 181,467 🇨🇦 Canada Arctic / Arctic Ocean 11,000 Iqaluit
Sumatra 425,000 164,093 🇮🇩 Indonesia Indian Ocean 51,000,000 Medan
Honshu 231,090 89,224 🇯🇵 Japan Pacific 100,000,000 Tokyo is the largest city and capital of Japan BUT the island of Honshu does not have its own capital.
Great Britain 219,330 84,683 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Atlantic / North Sea 64,550,000 London is the biggest city and capital of the island of Great Britain.
Victoria Island 217,290 83,896 🇨🇦 Canada Canadian Arctic / Arctic Ocean 1900 Cambridge Bay
Ellesmere Island 196,235 75,766 🇨🇦 Canada Arctic / Arctic Ocean 129 Ellesmere Island is Canada’s third largest island, just slightly smaller than Great Britain, but with a population of just over one hundred people! The only public community is in Grise Fiord.
Sulawesi
(formerly Celebes)
 179,400 69,266 🇮🇩 Indonesia Indian Ocean 16,000,000 Makassar is the capital of the province of South Sulawesi.
South Island
 153,757 59,366 🇳🇿 New Zealand Pacific 1,000,000 Christchurch
Java 126,650 48,900 🇮🇩 Indonesia Indian Ocean 130,000,000 Jakarta
North Island
 114,729 44,297 🇳🇿 New Zealand Pacific 3,330,000 Auckland is the largest city. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is also on North island.
Newfoundland Island
 108,860 42,030 🇨🇦 Canada North Atlantic 480,000 St. John’s is the largest city and capital of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Cuba 109,884 42,426 🇨🇺 Cuba Caribbean 11,330,000 Cuba is an island country and largest of all Carribbean islands. Havana is the largest city and capital of Cuba. 90% of Cubans own their own homes.
Luzon 108,172 41,765 🇵🇭 Philippines West Pacific 46,500,000 Manila is the capital of Philippines and the largest city on the island.
Iceland 103,000 39,770 🇮🇸 Iceland North Atlantic 318,200 Iceland is an island country. Iceland has the lowest population density in Europe. Reykjavík is the most northerly capital city in the world.
Mindanao 94,594 36,523 🇵🇭 Philippines Pacific 14,100,000 Davao City
Ireland 84,426 32,597 🇮🇪 Ireland
🇬🇧 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland		 Atlantic / North Sea 6,200,000 Dublin is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland and largest city in Ireland.
Hokkaido 83,450 32,220 🇯🇵 Japan Pacific 5,500,000 Sapporo is the largest city and capital of the prefecture of Hokkaido.
Hispaniola 76,480 29,529 🇭🇹 Haiti
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic		 Caribbean / Atlantic 19,442,012 Port-au-Prince / Santo Domingo
Sakhalin 72,492 27,989 🇷🇺 Russia North Pacific 580,000 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Banks Island 70,028 27,038 🇨🇦 Canada Canadian Arctic Ocean 136 Sachs Harbor
Tasmania 68,400 26,409 🇦🇺 Australia Pacific 502,600 Hobart is the largest city and the state capital of Tasmania.
Sri Lanka
(formerly Ceylon)		 65,610 25,332 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka Indian Ocean 21,800,000 Sri Lanka is an island country formerly Ceylon. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (or just Kotte) is the capital but Colombo is the largest city.

See also: Mediterranean Islands… | Biggest Deserts | Oceans of the World…

At a time when some of the world’s largest islands had not yet been discovered John Donne, an English poet and cleric, said:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent

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