Number of Merchant Ships by Country (2026)

The number of merchant ships measures how many commercial vessels are registered under a country's flag. It is a count of ships rather than a measure of capacity, so a country with many small vessels may rank higher than one with a smaller but heavier fleet. The statistics are based on the UNCTADstat database. The dataset covers 196 countries and territories, and 195 of them report figures for 2026. The reporting countries and territories record 113,321 ships in total.

Countries With the Most Merchant Ships in 2026

Indonesia recorded the most merchant ships in 2026 with 14,618 vessels. China ranked second with 10,924, followed by Panama (8,478), Liberia (5,846), and Japan (5,189). The Marshall Islands (4,379), Singapore (3,477), the United States (3,438), Russia (2,953), and the Philippines (2,258) complete the top ten.

Number of Merchant Ships by Country (2026)

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#	Country	Latest Data (ships)	Year
1	Indonesia ID	14,618	2026
2	China CN	10,924	2026
3	Panama PA	8,478	2026
4	Liberia LR	5,846	2026
5	Japan JP	5,189	2026
6	Marshall Islands MH	4,379	2026
7	Singapore SG	3,477	2026
8	United States US	3,438	2026
9	Russia RU	2,953	2026
10	Philippines PH	2,258	2026
11	Hong Kong HK	2,251	2026
12	South Korea KR	2,154	2026
13	India IN	1973	2026
14	Malta MT	1968	2026
15	Vietnam VN	1906	2026
16	Malaysia MY	1792	2026
17	Norway NO	1647	2026
18	Türkiye TR	1330	2026
19	Portugal PT	1296	2026
20	Bahamas BS	1276	2026
21	Netherlands NL	1190	2026
22	Greece GR	1170	2026
23	Italy IT	1132	2026
24	Iran IR	1037	2026
25	Nigeria NG	1032	2026
26	Cyprus CY	1028	2026
27	Brazil BR	926	2026
28	Thailand TH	888	2026
29	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VC	807	2026
30	United Kingdom GB	780	2026
31	Antigua and Barbuda AG	731	2026
32	Canada CA	709	2026
33	United Arab Emirates AE	705	2026
34	Mexico MX	701	2026
35	Belize BZ	691	2026
36	Sierra Leone SL	681	2026
37	Denmark DK	668	2026
38	Australia AU	650	2026
39	Saint Kitts and Nevis KN	643	2026
40	Bangladesh BD	619	2026
41	Germany DE	590	2026
42	Comoros KM	573	2026
43	France FR	565	2026
44	Palau PW	546	2026
45	Tanzania TZ	539	2026
46	Saudi Arabia SA	519	2026
47	Spain ES	472	2026
48	Honduras HN	471	2026
49	Taiwan TW	466	2026
50	Egypt EG	454	2026
51	Barbados BB	447	2026
52	Croatia HR	385	2026
53	Sweden SE	370	2026
54	Mongolia MN	364	2026
55	Ukraine UA	338	2026
56	Togo TG	337	2026
57	Tuvalu TV	335	2026
58	Cameroon CM	332	2026
59	Azerbaijan AZ	318	2026
60	North Korea KP	289	2026
61	Finland FI	279	2026
62	Vanuatu VU	279	2026
63	Venezuela VE	272	2026
64	Isle of Man IM	266	2026
65	Chile CL	239	2026
66	Papua New Guinea PG	228	2026
67	Belgium BE	223	2026
68	Argentina AR	189	2026
69	Cambodia KH	179	2026
70	Kuwait KW	178	2026
71	Ecuador EC	163	2026
72	Colombia CO	156	2026
73	Poland PL	154	2026
74	Bahrain BH	148	2026
75	Luxembourg LU	138	2026
76	Bermuda BM	126	2026
77	Romania RO	124	2026
78	Guyana GY	122	2026
79	Qatar QA	120	2026
80	Cook Islands CK	119	2026
81	Algeria DZ	118	2026
82	Kazakhstan KZ	117	2026
83	New Zealand NZ	115	2026
84	South Africa ZA	115	2026
85	Cayman Islands KY	113	2026
86	Peru PE	112	2026
87	Curaçao CW	105	2026
88	Sao Tome and Principe ST	103	2026
89	Myanmar MM	102	2026
90	Gambia GM	100	2026
91	Paraguay PY	99	2026
92	Ireland IE	97	2026
93	Morocco MA	97	2026
94	Trinidad and Tobago TT	97	2026
95	San Marino SM	96	2026
96	Guinea-Bissau GW	95	2026
97	Faroe Islands FO	94	2026
98	Latvia LV	94	2026
99	Sri Lanka LK	92	2026
100	Maldives MV	91	2026
101	Brunei BN	88	2026
102	Niue NU	88	2026
103	Oman OM	88	2026
104	Libya LY	86	2026
105	Gibraltar GI	84	2026
106	Kiribati KI	83	2026
107	Fiji FJ	82	2026
108	Dominica DM	81	2026
109	Tunisia TN	73	2026
110	Gabon GA	71	2026
111	Turkmenistan TM	70	2026
112	Angola AO	69	2026
113	Bolivia BO	68	2026
114	Bulgaria BG	66	2026
115	Cuba CU	66	2026
116	Estonia EE	66	2026
117	Iraq IQ	64	2026
118	Pakistan PK	60	2026
119	Albania AL	59	2026
120	Guinea GN	59	2026
121	Lithuania LT	59	2026
122	Mozambique MZ	59	2026
123	Uruguay UY	56	2026
124	Solomon Islands SB	54	2026
125	Ghana GH	49	2026
126	Jamaica JM	48	2026
127	Lebanon LB	46	2026
128	Dominican Republic DO	43	2026
129	Equatorial Guinea GQ	42	2026
130	Senegal SN	39	2026
131	Cape Verde CV	37	2026
132	Israel IL	36	2026
133	Jordan JO	36	2026
134	Benin BJ	34	2026
135	Djibouti DJ	34	2026
136	Iceland IS	34	2026
137	Micronesia FM	34	2026
138	Tonga TO	34	2026
139	Aruba AW	31	2026
140	Moldova MD	31	2026
141	Mauritius MU	30	2026
142	Seychelles SC	30	2026
143	French Polynesia PF	29	2026
144	Georgia GE	29	2026
145	Yemen YE	29	2026
146	Madagascar MG	28	2026
147	Ivory Coast CI	27	2026
148	DR Congo CD	24	2026
149	Kenya KE	24	2026
150	Nauru NR	23	2026
151	British Virgin Islands VG	21	2026
152	Namibia NA	17	2026
153	New Caledonia NC	17	2026
154	Syria SY	17	2026
155	Sudan SD	16	2026
156	Montenegro ME	15	2026
157	Suriname SR	14	2026
158	Eswatini SZ	13	2026
159	Guatemala GT	13	2026
160	Switzerland CH	13	2026
161	Greenland GL	12	2026
162	Mauritania MR	12	2026
163	Samoa WS	12	2026
164	Botswana BW	11	2026
165	Costa Rica CR	11	2026
166	Ethiopia ET	11	2026
167	Wallis and Futuna WF	11	2026
168	Congo CG	10	2026
169	Eritrea ER	10	2026
170	Réunion RE	10	2026
171	El Salvador SV	7	2026
172	Macau MO	7	2026
173	Slovenia SI	7	2026
174	Nicaragua NI	6	2026
175	Grenada GD	5	2026
176	Guam GU	3	2026
177	Haiti HT	3	2026
178	Monaco MC	3	2026
179	Somalia SO	3	2026
180	Turks and Caicos Islands TC	3	2026
181	Czech Republic CZ	2	2026
182	Falkland Islands FK	2	2026
183	Laos LA	2	2026
184	Lesotho LS	2	2026
185	Niger NE	2	2026
186	North Macedonia MK	2	2026
187	Timor-Leste TL	2	2026
188	US Virgin Islands VI	2	2026
189	Austria AT	1	2026
190	Belarus BY	1	2026
191	Bosnia and Herzegovina BA	1	2026
192	Hungary HU	1	2022
193	Northern Mariana Islands MP	1	2026
194	Puerto Rico PR	1	2026
195	Slovakia SK	1	2026
196	Zambia ZM	1	2026

The 113,321 ships across the reporting countries and territories are more widely distributed than the world's merchant fleet capacity. Indonesia alone accounts for about 13 percent of the ships in the dataset, and the top five countries together account for about 40 percent. Among the 195 countries and territories with 2026 data, 26 register more than 1,000 ships.

Number of Merchant Ships Around the World

In Asia, Indonesia (14,618) records by far the largest number of ships, ahead of China (10,924), Japan (5,189), and the Philippines (2,258). South Korea (2,154), India (1,973), and Vietnam (1,906) also register more than 1,900 vessels each.

In Europe, the largest fleets by ship count are found in Malta (1,968), Norway (1,647), Portugal (1,296), and the Netherlands (1,190). Greece (1,170) and Italy (1,132) follow, while France (565), Germany (590), Denmark (668), and the United Kingdom (780) register fewer.

In the Americas, Panama (8,478) and the United States (3,438) dominate, with Brazil (926) the largest South American registry. In Africa, Nigeria (1,032) registers the most ships, followed by Egypt (454). In the Middle East, Iran (1,037) records the most, and in Oceania, Australia (650) leads.

Among open-registry economies, Liberia (5,846), the Marshall Islands (4,379), and Singapore (3,477) are the largest by ship count, while Hong Kong (2,251) and Cyprus (1,028) are smaller in number of ships than in dead weight tonnage.

Largest Changes in Number of Merchant Ships, 2021–2026

Indonesia recorded the largest increase between 2021 and 2026, rising from 10,988 to 14,618 ships. China added 3,463 ships, from 7,461 to 10,924, and Liberia grew from 3,932 to 5,846 (up 1,914).

Hong Kong recorded the largest decline, from 2,722 to 2,251 ships (down 471), followed by Italy (down 180), Malta (down 161), and the United Kingdom (down 149).

Number of Merchant Ships by Country (2026)

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#	Country	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	Indonesia	10,988	11,538	12,162	12,987	13,738	14,618
2	Panama	7,967	7,993	8,196	8,285	8,525	8,478
3	China	7,461	8,794	9,977	10,922	10,832	10,924
4	Japan	5,136	5,194	5,149	5,099	5,126	5,189
5	Liberia	3,932	4,300	4,822	5,223	5,559	5,846
6	Marshall Islands	3,825	4,049	4,185	4,273	4,253	4,379
7	United States	3,540	3,492	3,510	3,441	3,445	3,438
8	Singapore	3,307	3,223	3,049	3,075	3,099	3,477
9	Russia	2,887	2,908	2,913	2,815	2,889	2,953
10	Hong Kong	2,722	2,665	2,533	2,482	2,511	2,251
11	Philippines	2,212	2,211	2,196	2,206	2,217	2,258
12	Malta	2,129	2048	1945	1855	1945	1968
13	South Korea	2,120	2,165	2,171	2,148	2,142	2,154
14	Vietnam	1945	1973	1948	1915	1903	1906
15	India	1814	1810	1859	1891	1920	1973
16	Malaysia	1783	1769	1763	1783	1808	1792
17	Norway	1669	1713	1711	1678	1686	1647
18	Bahamas	1329	1309	1269	1255	1246	1276
19	Italy	1312	1265	1249	1152	1131	1132
20	Greece	1261	1234	1211	1174	1167	1170
21	Netherlands	1207	1192	1189	1186	1196	1190
22	Türkiye	1184	1171	1188	1309	1321	1330
23	Cyprus	1053	1033	1012	992	1027	1028
24	Iran	939	955	986	999	1016	1037
25	United Kingdom	929	880	814	791	784	780
26	Thailand	885	869	872	875	885	888
27	Nigeria	870	896	955	966	1000	1032
28	Brazil	863	869	888	889	916	926
29	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	791	831	799	766	798	807
30	Belize	777	781	748	803	780	691
31	Portugal	725	826	895	984	1130	1296
32	Denmark	719	729	714	696	679	668
33	Canada	698	697	713	699	697	709
34	Mexico	676	674	670	683	698	701
35	Antigua and Barbuda	673	638	615	629	672	731
36	United Arab Emirates	626	639	658	668	673	705
37	Germany	623	611	589	581	591	590
38	Australia	600	607	613	618	628	650
39	Sierra Leone	579	599	590	581	624	681
40	France	543	534	530	533	542	565
41	Spain	494	497	498	473	476	472
42	Honduras	491	478	477	471	488	471
43	Bangladesh	482	531	567	596	612	619
44	Taiwan	437	451	463	472	465	466
45	Egypt	423	437	442	439	448	454
46	Togo	414	401	392	360	345	337
47	Ukraine	413	411	403	360	343	338
48	Saudi Arabia	398	416	438	441	480	519
49	Croatia	363	380	381	370	376	385
50	Sweden	363	364	363	355	359	370
51	Tanzania	325	321	397	479	529	539
52	Isle of Man	319	289	265	262	254	266
53	Vanuatu	307	327	339	346	291	279
54	Azerbaijan	305	309	313	314	315	318
55	Mongolia	301	302	328	363	368	364
56	Venezuela	284	270	264	263	266	272
57	Finland	282	285	281	281	277	279
58	Palau	271	311	439	540	566	546
59	North Korea	260	264	274	281	286	289
60	Saint Kitts and Nevis	247	294	356	415	574	643
61	Comoros	244	252	282	292	431	573
62	Chile	243	241	246	241	240	239
63	Tuvalu	231	247	268	272	282	335
64	Bahrain	210	191	175	158	153	148
65	Argentina	204	200	199	193	191	189
66	Belgium	204	199	189	181	182	223
67	Gibraltar	202	156	126	106	94	84
68	Cambodia	200	199	187	179	179	179
69	Papua New Guinea	197	201	214	218	223	228
70	Cook Islands	191	187	179	190	167	119
71	Kuwait	168	171	181	182	178	178
72	Barbados	167	197	276	341	491	447
73	Cayman Islands	162	146	137	123	115	113
74	Ecuador	151	153	149	158	161	163
75	Bermuda	147	136	122	109	114	126
76	Colombia	147	149	152	156	157	156
77	Luxembourg	147	153	146	147	152	138
78	Moldova	146	121	49	33	31	31
79	Poland	145	149	152	152	153	154
80	Qatar	129	124	121	118	115	120
81	Romania	120	126	128	126	124	124
82	Kazakhstan	119	119	116	121	120	117
83	Algeria	114	118	118	118	118	118
84	New Zealand	114	116	122	116	116	115
85	Paraguay	111	109	104	96	98	99
86	South Africa	108	110	109	108	111	115
87	Myanmar	106	108	114	98	102	102
88	Peru	104	108	110	108	110	112
89	Trinidad and Tobago	103	102	100	97	97	97
90	Cameroon	101	130	218	311	244	332
91	Faroe Islands	101	93	88	91	90	94
92	Ireland	98	95	93	94	96	97
93	Brunei	96	95	95	96	95	88
94	Libya	94	94	96	86	87	86
95	Dominica	93	85	72	67	72	81
96	Morocco	93	93	94	92	95	97
97	Sri Lanka	92	95	95	92	92	92
98	Bulgaria	80	81	77	68	67	66
99	Maldives	80	82	85	82	89	91
100	Kiribati	77	75	80	75	74	83
101	Fiji	74	75	79	77	80	82
102	Turkmenistan	73	71	75	71	73	70
103	Tunisia	72	72	72	73	73	73
104	Albania	70	69	70	58	58	59
105	Latvia	70	79	85	88	89	94
106	Gabon	69	78	89	130	125	71
107	Estonia	68	70	71	66	67	66
108	Niue	68	69	78	75	78	88
109	Iraq	67	73	74	63	63	64
110	Lithuania	65	62	59	61	62	59
111	Curaçao	62	58	53	48	76	105
112	Angola	61	64	63	63	66	69
113	Cuba	61	63	66	65	67	66
114	Uruguay	61	61	58	58	58	56
115	Guyana	58	93	83	81	120	122
116	Pakistan	58	58	61	61	62	60
117	Oman	56	56	51	50	50	88
118	Ghana	51	51	50	50	50	49
119	Lebanon	48	48	50	47	45	46
120	Cape Verde	45	45	42	37	38	37
121	Bolivia	44	48	51	49	55	68
122	Equatorial Guinea	44	47	52	47	40	42
123	Jamaica	44	37	43	43	45	48
124	Israel	42	45	40	36	35	36
125	Dominican Republic	40	37	36	41	42	43
126	Iceland	40	38	39	35	36	34
127	Djibouti	36	42	37	37	42	34
128	Micronesia	36	34	35	37	35	34
129	Mozambique	36	36	39	40	40	59
130	Senegal	36	37	36	36	38	39
131	Jordan	34	34	34	33	34	36
132	Yemen	34	29	30	29	29	29
133	Mauritius	33	31	30	33	32	30
134	Seychelles	30	30	30	31	28	30
135	British Virgin Islands	29	30	30	28	24	21
136	Madagascar	28	28	30	22	23	28
137	Tonga	28	25	25	25	26	34
138	Kenya	27	26	26	25	24	24
139	Syria	27	21	24	19	16	17
140	Solomon Islands	26	27	30	53	55	54
141	Georgia	25	24	26	26	28	29
142	Ivory Coast	25	25	25	26	26	27
143	New Caledonia	24	23	21	18	18	17
144	French Polynesia	23	26	25	25	28	29
145	DR Congo	22	24	24	24	24	24
146	Sao Tome and Principe	21	25	26	42	69	103
147	Switzerland	20	20	17	17	15	13
148	Montenegro	19	19	17	17	17	15
149	Eswatini	-	-	-	-	17	13
150	Sudan	15	15	16	16	16	16
151	Namibia	14	15	15	15	17	17
152	Suriname	13	13	14	14	14	14
153	Congo	12	11	11	11	10	10
154	Ethiopia	12	12	12	11	11	11
155	Samoa	12	15	13	12	12	12
156	Botswana	-	-	-	-	-	11
157	Costa Rica	11	11	11	10	10	11
158	Greenland	11	12	12	12	12	12
159	Réunion	10	10	10	10	11	10
160	Eritrea	9	9	9	9	10	10
161	Guatemala	9	9	10	10	13	13
162	Slovenia	9	9	8	7	7	7
163	Gambia	8	9	16	14	39	100
164	Guinea-Bissau	8	8	21	46	80	95
165	Benin	6	7	6	11	11	34
166	Grenada	6	6	5	4	5	5
167	Mauritania	5	11	11	11	12	12
168	Nicaragua	5	5	5	5	5	6
169	Belarus	4	4	4	1	1	1
170	Haiti	4	4	2	2	2	3
171	Macau	4	6	7	7	7	7
172	Nauru	4	4	10	11	14	23
173	Somalia	4	4	4	3	3	3
174	Guam	3	3	3	3	3	3
175	Turks and Caicos Islands	3	3	3	3	3	3
176	El Salvador	2	4	5	5	6	7
177	Falkland Islands	2	2	2	2	2	2
178	Guinea	2	3	2	4	29	59
179	US Virgin Islands	2	2	2	1	2	2
180	Zambia	2	2	1	1	1	1
181	Aruba	1	1	1	2	2	31
182	Austria	1	1	1	1	1	1
183	Bosnia and Herzegovina	-	-	-	1	1	1
184	Czech Republic	-	-	-	1	1	2
185	Hungary	1	1	-	-	-	-
186	Laos	1	1	1	1	1	2
187	Lesotho	-	-	1	1	1	2
188	Monaco	1	1	1	2	3	3
189	Niger	1	2	1	1	1	2
190	North Macedonia	-	-	-	1	2	2
191	Northern Mariana Islands	-	-	1	1	1	1
192	Puerto Rico	1	1	1	1	1	1
193	San Marino	-	1	1	17	56	96
194	Slovakia	-	-	-	1	1	1
195	Timor-Leste	1	1	2	2	2	2
196	Wallis and Futuna	1	11	11	11	11	11

Methodology

The statistics are based on the UNCTADstat database, indicator Number of ships, which counts the merchant ships registered under each country's flag. According to UNCTAD, the fleet registration statistics cover all commercial ships of 100 gross tons and above. The main comparison uses 2026 data where available, and the latest available year for countries without a 2026 observation. In the table, a zero reflects a nil or negligible fleet, while an empty cell means that no value was reported; the two are never mixed up in the calculations.