| Country | Geography - note |
| Saudi Arabia | extensive coastlines on Persian Gulf and Red Sea provide great leverage on shipping (especially crude oil) through Persian Gulf and Suez Canal |
| Senegal | westernmost country on the African continent; The Gambia is almost an enclave within Senegal |
| Serbia | controls one of the major land routes from Western Europe to Turkey and the Near East |
| Serbia and Montenegro | void |
| Seychelles | 41 granitic and about 75 coralline islands |
| Sierra Leone | rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa |
| Singapore | focal point for Southeast Asian sea routes |
| Slovakia | landlocked; most of the country is rugged and mountainous; the Tatra Mountains in the north are interspersed with many scenic lakes and valleys |
| Slovenia | despite its small size, this eastern Alpine country controls some of Europe's major transit routes |
| Solomon Islands | strategic location on sea routes between the South Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea; on 2 April 2007 an undersea earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred 345 km WNW of the capital Honiara, the resulting tsunami devastated coastal areas of Western and Choiseul provinces with dozens of deaths and thousands dislocated; the provincial capital of Gizo was especially hard hit |
| Somalia | strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal |
| South Africa | South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia |
| Southern Ocean | the major chokepoint is the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica; the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence) is the best natural definition of the northern extent of the Southern Ocean; it is a distinct region at the middle of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that separates the cold polar surface waters to the south from the warmer waters to the north; the Front and the Current extend entirely around Antarctica, reaching south of 60 degrees south near New Zealand and near 48 degrees south in the far South Atlantic coinciding with the path of the maximum westerly winds |
| Spain | strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar |
| Spratly Islands | strategically located near several primary shipping lanes in the central South China Sea; includes numerous small islands, atolls, shoals, and coral reefs |
| Sri Lanka | strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes |
| Sudan | largest country in Africa; dominated by the Nile and its tributaries |
| Suriname | smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, mostly along the coast |
| Svalbard | northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area; Spitsbergen Island is the site of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a seed repository established by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Norwegian Government |
| Swaziland | landlocked; almost completely surrounded by South Africa |
| Sweden | strategic location along Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas |
| Switzerland | landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe; along with southeastern France, northern Italy, and southwestern Austria, has the highest elevations in the Alps |
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