How this list was compiled: Countries: the 26 member states of the United Nations with a coast on the Indian Ocean itself or on a sea that opens straight onto it. Each is in Wikipedia's list of countries bordering the Indian Ocean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Countries_and_territories_bordering_the_Indian_Ocean) and in the United Nations' list of member states (https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states), both read on 2026-10-01. The states of that list that reach the ocean only through the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf are drawn without a number. Waters: the ocean and twelve seas, gulfs and straits, each in the Marine Regions gazetteer's list of the sea areas of the International Hydrographic Organization (https://www.marineregions.org/rest/getGazetteerRecordsByType.json/IHO%20Sea%20Area/) and in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean, read the same day. Disputed places are drawn as Natural Earth draws them and are never asked. Outlines: Natural Earth 5.1.2, credited under the drawing. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_geography_marine_polys (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_geography_marine_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Equal Earth projection centered on 82°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. 3 places are too small to draw at this scale and shown as a dot. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This blank map of the Indian Ocean puts the ocean in the middle, with Africa on the left, South Asia at the top and Australia on the right. It numbers 26 countries on its shores and 13 waters.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
The sheet opens blank. Choose Numbered to put a number on each of the 39 places, or Named for their names, then press Print this map. Print the answer key gives the names on a sheet of its own.
What is numbered
Twenty-six countries: ten in Africa with its island states, nine from Yemen to Bangladesh and seven from Myanmar to Australia. Thirteen waters: the ocean and twelve of its seas, gulfs and straits. Small places such as the Maldives and Singapore carry their number on their own spot.
Arabian Gulf counts as a right answer for the Persian Gulf, and Timor-Leste for East Timor.
Questions and answers
Which countries border the Indian Ocean?
This map numbers 26, each with a coast on the ocean or a sea that opens onto it, from South Africa round to Australia. Countries that reach it only through the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, have no number.
Which seas are part of the Indian Ocean?
The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are the largest. Also numbered: the Andaman and Laccadive Seas, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulfs of Aden and Oman, the Mozambique Channel, the Timor Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Great Australian Bight.
How big is the Indian Ocean?
It is the third largest of the five oceans, about 70.6 million square kilometers, close to a fifth of the water on Earth's surface. Asia lies to its north, Africa to its west and Australia to its east.
Why are Iran, Pakistan and India cut off at the top?
The map ends just north of the Persian Gulf so that the ocean stays large on the sheet. The northern parts of Iran, Pakistan and India lie past that edge.
Why is Somaliland not numbered?
Some borders on this map are disputed. The map follows Natural Earth, a public-domain map source, and does not take a side. It numbers member states of the United Nations, so Somaliland is drawn as a shape of its own with no number.