| Country | Geography - note |
| Kazakhstan | landlocked; Russia leases approximately 6,000 sq km of territory enclosing the Baykonur Cosmodrome; in January 2004, Kazakhstan and Russia extended the lease to 2050 |
| Kenya | the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa; glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak; unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value |
| Kiribati | 21 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia, and Nauru |
| Korea, North | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
| Korea, South | strategic location on Korea Strait |
| Kosovo | void |
| Kuwait | strategic location at head of Persian Gulf |
| Kyrgyzstan | landlocked; entirely mountainous, dominated by the Tien Shan range; many tall peaks, glaciers, and high-altitude lakes |
| Laos | landlocked; most of the country is mountainous and thickly forested; the Mekong River forms a large part of the western boundary with Thailand |
| Latvia | most of the country is composed of fertile, low-lying plains, with some hills in the east |
| Lebanon | Nahr el Litani is the only major river in Near East not crossing an international boundary; rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity |
| Lesotho | landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 m above sea level |
| Liberia | facing the Atlantic Ocean, the coastline is characterized by lagoons, mangrove swamps, and river-deposited sandbars; the inland grassy plateau supports limited agriculture |
| Libya | more than 90% of the country is desert or semidesert |
| Liechtenstein | along with Uzbekistan, one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world; variety of microclimatic variations based on elevation |
| Lithuania | fertile central plains are separated by hilly uplands that are ancient glacial deposits |
| Luxembourg | landlocked; the only Grand Duchy in the world |
| Macau | essentially urban; an area of land reclaimed from the sea measuring 5.2 sq km and known as Cotai now connects the islands of Coloane and Taipa; the island area is connected to the mainland peninsula by three bridges |
| Macedonia | landlocked; major transportation corridor from Western and Central Europe to Aegean Sea and Southern Europe to Western Europe |
| Madagascar | world's fourth-largest island; strategic location along Mozambique Channel |
| Malawi | landlocked; Lake Nyasa, some 580 km long, is the country's most prominent physical feature |
| Malaysia | strategic location along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea |
| Maldives | 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls (200 inhabited islands, plus 80 islands with tourist resorts); archipelago with strategic location astride and along major sea lanes in Indian Ocean |
| Mali | landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan |
| Malta | the country comprises an archipelago, with only the three largest islands (Malta, Ghawdex or Gozo, and Kemmuna or Comino) being inhabited; numerous bays provide good harbors; Malta and Tunisia are discussing the commercial exploitation of the continental shelf between their countries, particularly for oil exploration |
| Marshall Islands | the Marshall Islands Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II battleground, is used as a US missile test range; island city of Ebeye is the second largest settlement in the Marshall Islands, after the capital of Majuro, and one of the most densely populated locations in the Pacific |
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