Red Sea Islands Statistics 2026 | Population, Area, Location & Key Facts

The Red Sea contains well over 1,000 islands spread across eight bordering countries, with Saudi Arabia alone claiming 1,285 islands, though only 6 of them are inhabited. The largest, Farasan Island, covers 380 square kilometers and sits within a sea that stretches roughly 1,200 miles from Suez, Egypt, to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

Red Sea Islands – Introduction

The Red Sea islands span one of the most geologically active and politically complex waterways on Earth, a narrow, elongated sea separating northeastern Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Formed by the same tectonic rift system that created the East African Rift, the Red Sea’s islands range from tiny, uninhabited coral outcrops barely a kilometer across to sprawling archipelagos hosting thousands of residents, ancient trading ports, and, increasingly, multibillion-dollar tourism developments. Eight countries border the sea itself: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, Israel, Djibouti, and Jordan, though only a handful of them hold significant island territory within its waters.

Most Red Sea islands are, in a geological sense, barely more than exposed coral reefs, a fact that shapes everything from their population figures to their vulnerability to volcanic activity in areas like the Dahlak Archipelago and the Zubair Islands. This report covers the major island groups by country, their population and area statistics, and the sovereignty disputes and development projects reshaping several of them heading into 2026, from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project megaproject to the long-contested transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands.

Interesting Facts About Red Sea Islands 2026

Data Source: Wikipedia List of Islands of Saudi Arabia; Britannica Red Sea Geography; Saudi General Survey Authority

These figures highlight just how uninhabited the Red Sea’s island landscape really is. Of Saudi Arabia’s 1,285 islands, the vast majority sit in the Red Sea and adjoining Gulf of Aqaba, yet only 6, or half of one percent, support any permanent population at all. The rest range from small coral cays under a square kilometer to mid-sized islands used for fishing, conservation, or, increasingly, luxury tourism developments rather than year-round settlement.

The sea itself is geologically young and narrow by oceanic standards, stretching roughly 1,200 miles from the Gulf of Suez down to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait while never exceeding about 220 miles in width. That narrow, elongated shape, combined with high salinity near 40% and almost no freshwater river inflow, has produced a marine environment where coral reef formations dominate island geology far more than volcanic or continental rock, explaining why so many of the sea’s islands are classified simply as “exposed reefs” rather than true landmasses.

Red Sea Islands 2026 | Overview, Location & Total Sea Area

RED SEA GEOGRAPHY — KEY MEASUREMENTS
Length (miles)             ████████████████████████████████████████ 1,200
Max Width (miles)          ████████                                   220
Max Depth (thousands ft)   ███                                         10

Data Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Red Sea Geography and Geology

The Red Sea occupies part of a major continental rift valley separating the African and Arabian tectonic plates, a geological feature connected to the broader East African Rift System that extends thousands of miles south through Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. It runs from the Egyptian city of Suez in the north down to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the south, where it connects to the Gulf of Aden and, beyond that, the Arabian Sea. No rivers drain into the Red Sea at all, and rainfall across the region is extremely scarce, a combination that produces some of the saltiest and warmest seawater found anywhere on the planet.

That same tectonic activity that formed the sea continues to shape its islands today. Active volcanoes sit just south of the Dahlak Archipelago, and the recently extinct volcano on Jabal Al-Tair Island illustrates how young, geologically speaking, much of this island terrain actually is. Since connecting to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, the Red Sea has become one of the most heavily trafficked shipping corridors on Earth, carrying maritime trade between Europe and Asia directly past hundreds of these islands every day.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Islands 2026 | Total Count & Key Statistics

SAUDI ARABIA ISLANDS BY SIZE — 2026
Islands under 1 km²          ████████████████████████████████████████ ~1,199
Islands 1-10 km²             ███                                          64
Islands 10-50 km²            █                                            18
Islands over 50 km²          ▏                                            4

Data Source: Saudi General Survey Authority; Wikipedia List of Islands of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia holds by far the largest island territory of any Red Sea nation, with 1,285 islands distributed across its coastline, roughly 89% of them located in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba and the remaining 11% in the Persian Gulf on the country’s eastern side. The overwhelming majority of these islands are tiny: only 4 exceed 50 square kilometers, while more than 1,100 are smaller than a single square kilometer, reflecting the reef-based, low-lying geology typical of the southern and central Red Sea coastline.

Most of these islands cluster around Tabuk Province in the north and Mecca and Jazan Provinces further south, and just 6 of the 1,285 total islands, roughly half a percent, are permanently inhabited. That extremely low inhabitation rate reflects both the practical challenges of freshwater access on small coral islands and, historically, limited economic incentive to settle them, a dynamic that Saudi Arabia’s tourism development plans, covered later in this report, are now actively working to change.

Farasan Islands 2026 | Saudi Arabia’s Largest Red Sea Archipelago

FARASAN ISLANDS ARCHIPELAGO — KEY ISLANDS BY AREA (km²)
Farasan Island (Greater Farasan)   ████████████████████████████████████████ 380
Sajid Island                       ████████████████                         156
Saso Islands                       ██                                        23
Dumsuk Island                      █                                         12

Data Source: Wikipedia Farasan Island, Sajid Island, Saso Islands, Dumsuk Island Entries

The Farasan Islands, located roughly 50 kilometers offshore from the city of Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, form the largest island group in the country and the second-largest archipelago in the entire Red Sea after Eritrea’s Dahlak Kebir. The largest single island, Greater Farasan, covers approximately 380 square kilometers, stretching about 57 kilometers long and 27 kilometers wide, and is home to roughly 20,000 residents as of a 2010 count, along with the archipelago’s administrative center and largest town, Farasan City, which contains Ottoman-era castles and historic stucco buildings dating back centuries.

Greater Farasan connects by bridge to the second-largest island in the group, Sajid Island, at 156 square kilometers, while ferry service links the entire archipelago to the Saudi mainland. Smaller, uninhabited islands round out the group, including the Saso Islands, two coral-derived islands totaling 22.6 square kilometers, and the U-shaped Dumsuk Island, at just 12 square kilometers, both located to the west and southwest of the main islands and used primarily for fishing rather than settlement.

The Red Sea Project Islands 2026 | Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Megaproject

THE RED SEA PROJECT — KEY DEVELOPMENT FIGURES
Total Project Area (km²)            ████████████████████████████████     28,000
Islands Planned for Development     █████████████████████                    22
Total Unspoiled Islands in Area     ████████████████████████████             90+
Hotels Planned                      ████████████████████                     50

Data Source: The Red Sea Destination Official Project Data; Red Sea Global

Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious island development effort, known simply as The Red Sea Destination or The Red Sea Project, was announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in July 2017 as a centerpiece of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification plan. Spanning 28,000 square kilometers along the coast of Tabuk Province between the cities of Umluj and Al-Wajh, the project encompasses more than 90 unspoiled offshore islands, 200 kilometers of coastline, desert, mountains, and volcanoes, with 22 of those islands and 6 inland sites selected for actual hotel and residential development.

One island within the broader development zone, Sheybarah Island, illustrates how quickly these plans have moved from announcement to reality: the 19.8-square-kilometer island, part of a 92-island archipelago within the 2,081-square-kilometer Al Wajh lagoon, opened its first resort, a 73-key luxury property, in November 2024, after sitting uninhabited and undeveloped for most of its history. Developer Red Sea Global, led by CEO John Pagano, has targeted a total of 50 hotels with 8,000 rooms and over 1,000 residential properties across the full project footprint once complete.

Tiran and Sanafir Islands 2026 | Location, Area & Sovereignty History

TIRAN & SANAFIR — KEY FACTS
Tiran Island Area (km²)        ████████████████████████████████████████ 80
Sanafir Island Area (km²)      ████████████████                         33

Data Source: Wikipedia Tiran Island and Sanafir Island Entries

Tiran and Sanafir islands sit at one of the most strategically significant chokepoints in the entire Red Sea region: the Strait of Tiran, which controls maritime access to the Gulf of Aqaba and, by extension, to Israel’s port of Eilat and Jordan’s port of Aqaba. Tiran covers roughly 80 square kilometers and rises to a highest elevation of 524 meters at Jabal Tiran, while the smaller, flatter Sanafir covers about 33 square kilometers. Both islands remain completely uninhabited as of the most recent data.

The islands carry a genuinely complex sovereignty history. Egypt occupied and administered both islands starting in the 1950s, citing security concerns tied to Israeli access to the strait, even while formally acknowledging Saudi Arabia’s underlying territorial claim. In 2016, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a maritime border agreement transferring formal sovereignty of both islands to Saudi Arabia, though implementation faced years of domestic legal challenges in Egypt and diplomatic delay, with some reporting indicating the handover process continued to face friction well after the agreement’s initial signing.

Dahlak Archipelago 2026 | Eritrea’s Red Sea Islands

DAHLAK ARCHIPELAGO — KEY FACTS
Total Islands (2 large + 124 small)   █████████████████████████████████████ 126
Permanently Inhabited Islands         █                                       4
Population                            ██                           ~2,500-3,000

Data Source: Wikipedia Dahlak Archipelago and Dahlak Subregion Entries

The Dahlak Archipelago, administered as Eritrea’s Dahlak subregion, consists of 126 islands, two large and 124 small, spread across the southern Red Sea roughly 58 kilometers east of the regional capital, Massawa. Despite that substantial island count, only 4 islands are permanently inhabited, and the entire archipelago’s population totals just 2,500 to 3,000 people, making it one of the most sparsely populated significant island groups anywhere in the Red Sea relative to its total landmass, which the core archipelago itself covers at roughly 643 square kilometers, though the broader administrative subregion spans closer to 900 square kilometers.

Dahlak Kebir, the largest and most populated island in the group, has a documented history stretching back through Ottoman, Italian colonial, and Cold War-era Soviet naval occupation, including a period when the islands hosted the Nocra prison camp under Italian rule and later a Soviet naval base during Ethiopia’s alliance with the USSR. The islands remain known today for exceptionally intact coral reefs and high marine biodiversity, with roughly 6% of corals and 17% of fish species in the surrounding waters found to be endemic to the region, alongside populations of endangered dugongs, dolphins, and a stunted subspecies of gazelle found on Dahlak Kebir itself. For additional context on how other remote, strategically significant islands compare in terms of population and development, see Chagos Islands Statistics, which covers a similarly small but geopolitically important Indian Ocean island group.

Red Sea Governorate 2026 | Egypt’s Red Sea Coast & Islands

EGYPT'S RED SEA GOVERNORATE — POPULATION GROWTH BY DECADE
1996        ██████████████ 157,314
2006        █████████████████████████ 288,661
2017        ███████████████████████████████ 361,480
2024        ████████████████████████████████████ 410,229

Data Source: Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)

Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate, with its capital and largest city at Hurghada, covers a total area of 119,099 square kilometers, spanning both mainland coastline and the islands scattered along it, and recorded a population of 410,229 as of January 2024, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. That population has grown dramatically over the past three decades, more than doubling between 1996 and 2006 alone as tourism development along the Egyptian Red Sea coast accelerated, before continuing to grow at a steadier, though still substantial, pace through the 2010s and into the 2020s.

The governorate includes the contested Halaib Triangle and its associated Siyal Islands, a border area disputed between Egypt and Sudan, adding another layer of geopolitical complexity to Egypt’s Red Sea island holdings beyond the well-known resort islands off Hurghada. Egypt’s exceptionally high average annual growth rate of over 9% in the most recent recorded period places the Red Sea Governorate among the country’s fastest-expanding administrative regions, driven substantially by the same tourism and resort economy that has made destinations like Hurghada globally recognized diving and beach destinations. For comparison with other closely watched island territories in the wider Middle East region, see Hormuz Island Statistics and Qeshm Island Statistics, both covering strategically significant islands at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

Frequently Asked Questions About Red Sea Islands in 2026

How many islands are in the Red Sea?

There is no single official count, but Saudi Arabia alone claims 1,285 islands, with roughly 89% located in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba, and Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago adds another 126 islands on its own.

What is the largest island in the Red Sea?

Dahlak Kebir, part of Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago, is generally considered the largest island in the Red Sea, followed closely by Saudi Arabia’s Farasan Island at 380 square kilometers, the largest island in Saudi Arabia specifically.

How many Red Sea islands are actually inhabited?

Very few. Of Saudi Arabia’s 1,285 islands, only 6 are permanently inhabited, and of Eritrea’s 126 Dahlak Archipelago islands, only 4 support permanent populations.

Which countries border the Red Sea?

Eight countries border the Red Sea: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, Israel, Djibouti, and Jordan.

What is The Red Sea Project?

A Saudi Arabian tourism megaproject announced in 2017, developing 22 islands and 6 inland sites across a 28,000-square-kilometer area as part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 diversification plan.

Who controls Tiran and Sanafir islands?

Saudi Arabia, following a 2016 maritime border agreement with Egypt, though the islands remain uninhabited and the strait they control remains strategically significant for shipping access to the Gulf of Aqaba.

How big is the Red Sea?

The Red Sea stretches approximately 1,200 miles (1,930 km) in length, with a maximum width of about 190-220 miles and a total area of roughly 170,000-174,000 square miles.

What is the population of Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate?

410,229 people as of January 2024, more than doubling in size since 1996 due to rapid tourism-driven growth around Hurghada and other coastal resort areas.

How deep is the Red Sea?

The Red Sea reaches a maximum depth of 9,974 feet (3,040 meters), with an average depth of roughly 1,608 feet (490 meters).

Are Red Sea islands volcanically active?

Some are. Active volcanoes are located just south of Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago, and the island of Jabal Al-Tair hosts a recently extinct volcano, reflecting the Red Sea’s origin as part of an active continental rift system.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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