The world's disputed territories

A disputed territory is land that more than one government claims as its own. Some involve fighting today. Others have been quiet for decades without being settled. The map and table below show 25 of them, who holds each one today and who claims it.

Updated October 12, 2026 · Map data from Natural Earth

World map of 25 disputed territories, colored by how tense each one is — Fighting Tense: armies or coast guards face each other Frozen: a ceasefire line, no deal Quiet: a claim on paper

Which territorial disputes are most dangerous right now?

Fighting goes on in five of them. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and uses it as a military base, which Ukraine strikes with drones and missiles. In the West Bank, Israeli raids and attacks by Palestinian militants and Israeli settlers have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians and dozens of Israelis since October 2023, by UN counts. Abyei, on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, saw clashes at the Amiet market that killed about 40 people on September 15, 2026, despite a UN peacekeeping force. In Western Sahara, the Polisario Front, which wants independence for the territory, has fought Morocco along Morocco's sand wall since 2020. In July 2026, in the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, US strikes hit Iranian military sites on Abu Musa and Greater Tunb, islands that Iran holds and the United Arab Emirates claims.

Nine are tense: armies or coast guards face each other, but there is no sustained fighting. Kashmir, Taiwan and the South China Sea fall in this group. The remaining 11 are frozen or quiet. Nobody is shooting, but nobody has dropped the claim.

Territory	Held by	Claimed by	Status	Since	Area, km²
CrimeaEuropeFightingHeld by Russia · claimed by Ukraine	Russia	Ukraine	FightingUnder Ukrainian drone and missile strikes	2014	27,000
West BankMiddle EastFightingHeld by Israel · claimed by Palestine	Israel	Palestine	FightingIsraeli raids, militant and settler attacks	1967	5,660
AbyeiAfricaFightingContested, with a UN force · claimed by Sudan and South Sudan	Contested, with a UN force	Sudan and South Sudan	FightingAbout 40 killed at Amiet market in Sept 2026	2011	10,460
Western SaharaAfricaFightingHeld by Morocco · claimed by Sahrawi Republic	Morocco, west of the berm	Sahrawi Republic	FightingLow-level fighting along the berm since 2020	1975	266,000
Abu Musa and the TunbsMiddle EastFightingHeld by Iran · claimed by UAE	Iran	UAE	FightingUS strikes hit the islands in July 2026	1971	25
KashmirAsiaTenseSplit between India, Pakistan and China	Split three ways	India and Pakistan	TenseFour days of strikes in May 2025	1947	222,000
TaiwanAsiaTenseHeld by Taiwan · claimed by China	Taiwan	China	TenseChina rehearses blockades around it	1949	36,000
South China SeaAsiaTenseSplit five ways	Split five ways	6 governments	TenseA Philippine supply run blocked in September	1970s	–
Senkaku IslandsAsiaTenseHeld by Japan · claimed by China and Taiwan	Japan	China and Taiwan	TenseChinese ships nearby 357 days in 2025	1971	5.5
Golan HeightsMiddle EastTenseHeld by Israel · claimed by Syria	Israel	Syria	TenseIsraeli troops in Syria and talks stalled	1967	1,200
EssequiboAmericasTenseHeld by Guyana · claimed by Venezuela	Guyana	Venezuela	TenseVenezuela won't accept a world court ruling	1962	160,000
SomalilandAfricaTenseSelf-governed · claimed by Somalia	Self-governed	Somalia	TenseOnly Israel recognizes it, since 2025	1991	176,000
Ceuta and MelillaAfricaTenseHeld by Spain · claimed by Morocco	Spain	Morocco	Tense72,000 crossed into Ceuta in July 2026	1956	34
Arunachal PradeshAsiaTenseHeld by India · claimed by China	India	China	TenseChina issued 23 more place names in 2026	1914	84,000
Aksai ChinAsiaFrozenHeld by China · claimed by India	China	India	FrozenTalks resumed, both armies still deployed	1962	38,000
Kuril IslandsAsiaFrozenHeld by Russia · claimed by Japan	Russia	Japan	FrozenNo peace treaty, and Putin visited in 2026	1945	5,000
Paracel IslandsAsiaFrozenHeld by China · claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan	China	Vietnam and Taiwan	FrozenChina is building a runway on Antelope Reef	1974	8
Northern CyprusEuropeFrozenTurkish Cypriots, with Turkish troops · claimed by Cyprus	Turkish Cypriots, with Turkish troops	Cyprus	FrozenOnly Turkey recognizes it	1974	3,355
KosovoEuropeFrozenHeld by Kosovo · claimed by Serbia	Kosovo	Serbia	FrozenSerbia and five EU states don't recognize it	2008	10,900
AbkhaziaEuropeFrozenLocal rule, Russian troops · claimed by Georgia	Local rule, Russian troops	Georgia	FrozenRecognized by Russia and three others	1993	8,640
South OssetiaEuropeFrozenLocal rule, Russian troops · claimed by Georgia	Local rule, Russian troops	Georgia	FrozenLed by a former Russian official since 2026	1992	3,900
TransnistriaEuropeFrozenLocal rule, Russian troops · claimed by Moldova	Local rule, Russian troops	Moldova	FrozenShort of gas since Russia's 2025 cutoff	1992	4,200
Falkland IslandsAmericasQuietHeld by United Kingdom · claimed by Argentina	United Kingdom	Argentina	QuietArgentina is challenging a new oil field	1833	12,200
GibraltarEuropeQuietHeld by United Kingdom · claimed by Spain	United Kingdom	Spain	Quiet2026 UK-EU treaty ended land-border checks	1713	7
Dokdo / TakeshimaAsiaQuietHeld by South Korea · claimed by Japan	South Korea	Japan	QuietKorean police guard the islets	1952	0.2

Area is land area in square kilometers. Since is the year the present dispute began. Status is our reading of the news on October 12, 2026.

Which country is in the most territorial disputes?

China is party to 7 of the 25 disputes in this table, more than any other country. The seven are Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Paracel Islands, the Senkaku Islands, Kashmir, Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. Aksai Chin is also part of the broader Kashmir dispute. In a 2005 study, the political scientist M. Taylor Fravel counted 23 territorial disputes for China after 1949. China settled 17 of them, usually taking less than half the land in question.

Russia holds Crimea and the southern Kuril Islands. Russia also keeps troops in three breakaway regions that other countries claim: Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and Transnistria in Moldova. Taiwan appears in four disputes: its own status, and the South China Sea, the Paracels and the Senkakus, where the government in Taipei makes the same claims as China.

Disputes each country is part of

Holds or claimsBacks a breakaway region

China7
Russia5
Taiwan4
India3
Japan3

2 each: Georgia, Israel, Morocco, Spain, United Kingdom and Vietnam

Counts the 25 disputes on this page.

What are the strangest borders in the world?

Not every dispute is about war. Some borders are strange because of an old treaty, a mapmaker's line or a long-running joke between two friendly governments.

EGYPTSUDANBir TawilHala'ib Triangle

Bir Tawil

The land nobody claims

Egypt and Sudan both want the Hala'ib Triangle on the Red Sea coast. Egypt uses the 1899 border along the 22nd parallel. That line gives Egypt Hala'ib but leaves Bir Tawil to Sudan. Sudan uses a 1902 line that does the opposite. So neither government claims Bir Tawil's 2,060 km². In 2014 a Virginia farmer, Jeremiah Heaton, planted a flag there so his seven-year-old daughter could be a princess.

CANADAGREENLAND

Hans Island

The whisky war

Canada and Denmark both claimed this bare 1.3 km² rock between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. In 1984 Denmark's minister for Greenland, Tom Høyem, flew in by helicopter and planted a Danish flag. For decades after, visitors from each side left flags and bottles of Canadian whisky or Danish liquor. On June 14, 2022 the two countries split the island along a north-south ravine.

FRANCESPAINBay of Biscay

Pheasant Island

Six months French, six months Spanish

This small island in the Bidasoa river belongs to Spain from February 1 to July 31 and to France from August 1 to January 31, under an 1856 treaty. France and Spain signed the Treaty of the Pyrenees on the island in 1659. The painter Diego Velázquez decorated the Spanish half of the pavilion where Philip IV of Spain handed his daughter Maria Theresa to the French court in June 1660, to marry Louis XIV.

UK, Chile and
Argentina overlapUnclaimed

Antarctica

Seven claims, all on hold

Seven countries claim slices of Antarctica: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. The British, Chilean and Argentine slices overlap. The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 and in force since 1961, put all claims on hold. Most of Marie Byrd Land, in West Antarctica, is claimed by no one. That part is the largest unclaimed land on Earth.

Which territorial disputes have been settled?

A few disputes have been settled, in very different ways: by treaty, by a court ruling, by a swap and by force.

1998
Ecuador and Peru
Three years after the short Cenepa War of 1995, Ecuador and Peru signed a peace agreement in Brasília on October 26, 1998. The deal settled the last 78 km of their border in the Andes.
By treaty
2008
Bakassi
The International Court of Justice ruled that the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula belonged to Cameroon in October 2002. Nigeria completed the handover on August 14, 2008.
By a court ruling
2015
India and Bangladesh
India and Bangladesh exchanged 162 enclaves, pockets of one country surrounded by the other, home to 51,549 people. The swap took effect at midnight on July 31, 2015.
By a swap
2023
Nagorno-Karabakh
Azerbaijan retook the Armenian-run region in a one-day offensive in September 2023. More than 100,000 Armenians fled. A peace treaty was initialed in 2025 but remains unsigned.
By force

Questions about disputed territories

What is a disputed territory?

A disputed territory is land that two or more governments claim at the same time. Usually one country holds the land while another claims it, as with the Falkland Islands. Sometimes a local government that almost no country recognizes holds it, as in Abkhazia. A few places have many claimants. Six governments claim parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

How many disputed territories are there?

There is no official count. Natural Earth, the free world map data set, marks about 100 disputed areas. They range from Kashmir to single rocks in the sea. This page covers the 25 that carry the most weight in world politics.

Is Taiwan a disputed territory?

Yes. Taiwan has its own government, army and elections. Its government, officially the Republic of China, moved to the island in 1949 after losing China's civil war and has governed it ever since. The People's Republic of China claims Taiwan. A 2005 Chinese law allows "non-peaceful means" to stop Taiwan from becoming independent. Only 12 states have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan (11 UN members and the Holy See). Most countries, including the United States, do not recognize Taiwan but trade and work with it closely.