Indonesia

There are millions of islands on earth. Finland alone has nearly 200,000, Canada has about 30,000 and Norway 50,000. It’s difficult to get a precise number of how many islands there are on our planet because it depends on what you call an island – is a rock sticking up an island? How big must land be before it’s considered an island? Also, water levels change which can submerge some islands. Volcanoes create new ones. Here’s an article about how Indonesia is trying to figure out how many islands it has (it’s around 18,000): Smithsonian – Indonesia Islands

Here’s information on some of the biggest islands on earth:

1. Greenland – 822,700 square miles. That’s big! as a comparison, Australia is about 3 million square miles. As big as Greenland is it often looks bigger on maps because of the way land masses at the north and south of maps are distorted. IFOD on this point: Our Impression of the Earth is Distorted.  Greenland is an “autonomous territory” within the kingdom of Denmark.
2. New Guinea – 303,381 sq mi. Half of the Island is part of Indonesia and the other half is the country of Papua New Guinea.
3. Borneo – 288,869 sq mi. Borneo is split among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
4. Madagascar – 226,658 sq mi. Madagascar is its own country.
5. Baffin Island – 195,928 sq mi. Part of Canada.
6. Sumatra – 182,812 sq mi. Part of Indonesia.
7. Honshu – 87,200 sq mi. This is the biggest and most populous island of Japan.
8. Victoria Island – 83,897 sq mi. Part of Canada. Way north.
9. Great Britain – 80,823 sq mi. This is England, Scotland and Wales.
10. Ellesmere Island – 75,767 sq mi. Part of Canada.

Here are some other notable islands

#12 – New Zealand’s South Island and #14 is the North Island. 56,308 and 43,082 sq mi. respectively.

#15 – Luzon – 42,458 sq mi. This is the largest of the Philippines islands.

#17 – Cuba – 40,852 sq mi.

#18 – Iceland – 39,315 sq mi.

#20 – Ireland – 32,595 sq mi. Contains Ireland and Northern Ireland (UK).

#38 – Taiwan – 13,855 sq mi

#75 – Hawaii’s big island – 4,029 sq mi.

#81 – Puerto Rico – 3,500 sq mi.

#149 –  Long Island, New York – 3,629 sq mi.

#214 – Maui, Hawaii – 735 sq mi.

#246 – Oahu, Hawaii – 611 sq mi.

#264 – Kauai, Hawaii – 554 sq mi.