The Most Remote and Isolated Inhabited Islands in the World

The World's Most Isolated Inhabited Islands

There are thousands of islands in the world's oceans. Most of them are uninhabited - too small, too remote, too lacking in fresh water or arable land to sustain a permanent population. A few, however, have humans who chose to live there and whose descendants stayed. Their communities are among the most isolated on earth, separated from the rest of humanity by vast stretches of open ocean and by the simple practicalities of supply and contact.

These are not resort islands or tropical tourist destinations. They are communities of people living what might be the most genuinely self-sufficient existences available to human beings in the 21st century.

Tristan da Cunha - South Atlantic Ocean

Tristan da Cunha is officially the most remote inhabited island in the world. It sits in the South Atlantic at 37°6'S, 12°17'W, approximately 2,787km from the nearest inhabited land (Saint Helena) and 2,816km from South Africa. The island was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Tristão da Cunha in 1506, settled by British garrison in 1816, and has been continuously inhabited since. Its current population is approximately 251 people, all of whom are descended from a small group of original settlers from Britain, the Netherlands, the United States, and Italy.

There is no airport. The only access is by boat, and the island's harbor is accessible only in calm weather - about nine months per year, with a complete isolation possible at any time. Supply ships visit approximately 8-10 times per year. When bad weather closes the harbor, the island has been cut off from outside contact for months at a time. In 1961, the island's volcano erupted and the entire population was evacuated to the UK; they returned two years later, most of them preferring Tristan to England.

The economy revolves around the sustainable harvesting of rock lobster (marketed internationally under the brand name "Tristan da Cunha Crayfish"), fishing, and small-scale farming. Every resident has a role in the community's operation. There is one school, one hospital, one pub (the Albatross Bar), and one internet café. Mobile phone reception arrived only recently. The island issues its own postage stamps, which are collected worldwide.

Pitcairn Island - South Pacific Ocean

Pitcairn Island's story is one of the most extraordinary in the history of European exploration. It was settled in 1790 by nine mutineers from HMS Bounty - the famous mutiny led by Fletcher Christian against Captain William Bligh - along with twelve Tahitian women and six Tahitian men. They chose Pitcairn specifically because it was incorrectly charted in British naval maps, making it effectively unfindable. They burned the Bounty in what is now called Bounty Bay to prevent their discovery.

The island sits at 25°4'S, 130°6'W, 5,310km from New Zealand and 6,740km from South America. Its current population is approximately 45 people, almost all descendants of the original mutineers, making it the least populated national jurisdiction on earth. There is no airport; the only access is by ship, and the supply vessel visits only three or four times per year from New Zealand. The journey takes 10 days.

Pitcairn has an interesting digital dimension: it holds the .pn top-level domain, which generates revenue through domain registrations, and the community has successfully marketed hand-carved curios and honey internationally. The island gained unwanted international attention in the early 2000s due to a sexual abuse trial that resulted in several community members being imprisoned, raising serious questions about the viability of a 45-person self-governing community.

Saint Helena - South Atlantic Ocean

Saint Helena is best known as the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's final exile - he died there in 1821 - but it has been continuously inhabited since the East India Company established a station in 1659. The island sits 1,900km from West Africa at 15°58'S, 5°43'W, with a population of approximately 4,500. It remained accessible only by sea for most of its history, which contributed significantly to its role as a strategic stopover on South Atlantic trade routes.

An airport opened in 2016 after years of construction - and immediately developed an issue: the terrain creates severe wind shear on approach that initially made scheduled commercial operations impossible, prompting international aviation scrutiny. A modified approach procedure was eventually certified, and scheduled South African Airways regional services began operating. Napoleon's tomb and residence (Longwood House) are maintained as French national property and visited by the few tourists who make it to the island.

Easter Island - South Pacific

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is the most remote inhabited island in the world that has a full-size commercial airport and regular scheduled flights. It sits 3,700km from the Chilean mainland and 2,000km from Pitcairn (the nearest inhabited land) at 27°7'S, 109°21'W, with a population of approximately 8,000. It is famous for the moai - the massive stone statues carved by the Rapa Nui people between the 13th and 16th centuries.

The island's most fascinating characteristic is its demonstration of what happens when a small community becomes entirely isolated on a limited resource base: deforestation drove ecological collapse, which drove agricultural collapse, which drove population collapse, probably before European contact. The moai themselves represent an extraordinary engineering achievement on an island with no metal tools and no large domesticated animals; they were moved using systems of ropes and labor that are still being actively reconstructed by archaeologists.

Faroe Islands - North Atlantic

The Faroe Islands are a self-governing archipelago of 18 islands belonging to Denmark, sitting in the North Atlantic between Norway, Iceland, and Scotland. With a population of 54,000, they're substantially larger than the other islands on this list, but their isolation has produced a remarkable degree of cultural independence: the Faroese language (related to but distinct from Norwegian and Icelandic), their own football team and music scene, traditional sheep farming and fishing practices, and fermented and dried meats that have developed specifically in response to the absence of salt and the need for preservation in a cold, wet climate.

Would you want to live on one of these islands? Which one sounds most appealing? Tell us in the comments.