Which of the following countries in Asia is NOT a land-locked country?
- (a)Nepal
- (b)Thailand
- (c)Laos
- (d)Bhutan
Correct — B, Thailand. Thailand has an extensive coastline on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, so it is NOT land-locked. Nepal, Laos, and Bhutan, by contrast, are all genuinely land-locked Asian countries with no direct sea access.
- (a)Nepal — Nepal is a land-locked Himalayan country bordered only by India and China (Tibet), with no coastline — so it does not answer a 'NOT land-locked' question.
- (c)Laos — Laos is the only land-locked country in mainland Southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, with no coastline.
- (d)Bhutan — Bhutan is a land-locked Himalayan kingdom bordered only by India and China (Tibet), with no coastline.
A land-locked country has no direct access to an open sea or ocean coastline. In Asia, well-known land-locked countries include Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and the Central Asian republics. Thailand, though sometimes grouped with these mainland Southeast Asian neighbours, is fully coastal — bordering both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
The exam trap groups Thailand with genuinely land-locked mainland Southeast Asian neighbours (Laos); a candidate who does not recall Thailand's coastline on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea may misidentify it as land-locked.
- Thailand has coastlines on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea — it is NOT land-locked
- Nepal and Bhutan: land-locked Himalayan countries, bordered only by India and China
- Laos: the only land-locked country in mainland Southeast Asia
- A land-locked country has no direct coastline or ocean access
- Assuming all mainland Southeast Asian countries are land-locked — Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia all have coastlines
- Confusing Laos (the region's only land-locked country) with its coastal neighbour Thailand
A staple 'odd one out' pattern — identify the one coastal or land-locked country in a set; recurs across UPSC and state PCS geography sections.
Which one of the following countries is land locked?
- (a) Bolivia
- (b) Peru
- (c) Suriname
- (d) Uruguay
Answer(a) Bolivia.
UPSC 2003 tests the identical reasoning — pick the one land-locked country from a set of coastal ones (there, South America; here, Asia).
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following is a land-locked country in Asia?
- (a)Thailand
- (b)Vietnam
- (c)Laos
- (d)Malaysia
Answer(c) Laos.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Bhutan and Nepal, both land-locked Himalayan countries, are bordered by which two countries?
- (a)India and China
- (b)India and Pakistan
- (c)China and Myanmar
- (d)India and Bangladesh only
Answer(a) India and China.