Borders of the United States

The United States shares international land borders with two nations:

  • The Canada–United States border to the north of the Contiguous United States and to the east of Alaska
  • The Mexico–United States border to the south.
  • The Russia–United States maritime boundary was defined by a disputed agreement covering the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Arctic Ocean. The International Date Line essentially acts as the de facto border between the two nations; the USA ratified the USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement, but the USSR failed to ratify it before dissolving, and it was subsequently never ratified by Russia. During the winter, travel between Russia's uninhabited Big Diomede Island and Alaska's Little Diomede Island with a population of 110[1] is theoretically possible, although not legal, on some occasions when ice flowing through the Bering Strait clogs between the two islands.[2] West of Puerto Rico, the Mona Passage serves as maritime boundary with the Dominican Republic, and the US shares a border with the United Kingdom east of the US Virgin Islands.

The Third Border Initiative is an area of foreign policy concerning the Caribbean Sea border between the United States and the Caribbean region.

Insular areas are in a separate customs territory from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (see Foreign trade of the United States).

The continential United States shares maritime borders with Cuba and the Bahamas, while sharing maritime borders with the United Kingdom in the Virgin Islands and with Samoa in American Samoa.

Agencies

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for policing the borders and inspecting people and goods being imported.

The United States Coast Guard actively patrols the nation's extensive maritime borders.

The United States Armed Forces and state and local police may also become involved in border enforcement in certain circumstances.

Total list
Country or territory
 No. of land border neighbors[3] No. of maritime boundary neighbors[3] Total no. of unique neighbors[3] Neighboring countries and territories
(Territories without full sovereignty[4] in italics)
(L) = share only land borders
(M) = share only maritime boundaries
blank = share land borders and maritime boundaries
 United States[5] 2 5 5  Bahamas (M)
 Canada
 Cuba (M)
 Mexico
 Russia (M)
 United States (including insular areas)
→includes:
→ American Samoa
→ Baker Island
→ Guam
→ Howland Island
→ Jarvis Island
→ Johnston Atoll
→Guántanamo Bay
→ Kingman Reef
→ Midway Atoll
→ Navassa Island
→ Northern Mariana Islands
→ Palmyra Atoll
→ Puerto Rico
→ United States Virgin Islands
→ Wake Island		 3 18 (21) 18 (21)  Bahamas (M)
 Canada
 Cuba
 Dominican Republic (M)
 Haiti (M)
 Jamaica (M)
 Japan (M)
 Kiribati (M)
 Marshall Islands (M)
 Mexico
 Federated States of Micronesia (M)
 Netherlands (M)
 Russia (M)
 Samoa (M)
 Tonga (M)
 Venezuela (M)
 Anguilla[6](United Kingdom) (M)
 British Virgin Islands[6](United Kingdom) (M)
 Cook Islands[7](New Zealand) (M)
 Niue[8](New Zealand) (M)
 Tokelau[9](New Zealand) (M)

See also

References
  1. Local Economic Development Plan for Diomede 2012-2017, citing 2010 U.S. census (and this was a decline since the 2000 census
  2. http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/02/diomede-islands-two-islands-split-by-us.html
  3. A number in parentheses indicates the number of unique sovereign states that the country or territory shares as neighbors.
  4. The concept of state sovereignty is somewhat imprecise and there are disagreements about whether certain territories are sovereign. There are currently 195 states that are generally regarded as "fully" sovereign: this includes the 193 member states of the United Nations plus the observer states of Vatican City and the State of Palestine. Some of these states have under their jurisdiction territories, dependencies, or collectivities that are clearly non-sovereign geographical areas. These territories are generally regarded as being subsumed within the overarching sovereignty of the governing state. For example, the United Kingdom holds sovereignty over the territory of Gibraltar, even though Gibraltar is not considered to be part of the United Kingdom. There are a few territories in the world that are neither clearly sovereign nor clearly subsumed under another state's sovereignty. Often, these territories have declared themselves to be sovereign, but they are either not widely recognized as such or lack some of the necessary conditions for sovereign statehood. In these cases, explanatory footnotes indicate how the territory is treated for the purposes of this list.
  5. Excluding U.S. insular areas.
  6. British Overseas Territory.
  7. The Cook Islands is a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand. The Cook Islands controls a portion of its own foreign affairs, including the establishment and regulation of borders. However, the Cook Islands is not a member of the United Nations and is part of the Realm of New Zealand, with Cook Island people being New Zealand citizens. For purposes of this list, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Niue, and Tokelau are considered constituent parts of one sovereign state.
  8. Niue is a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand. Niue controls a portion of its own foreign affairs, including the establishment and regulation of borders. However, Niue is not a member of the United Nations and is part of the Realm of New Zealand, with Niuean people being New Zealand citizens. For purposes of this list, Niue, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Tokelau are considered constituent parts of one sovereign state.
  9. Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory within the Realm of New Zealand.
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