Is longer better?

Measuring the coastline using a shorter ruler to make it longer, Cartoon by Frits Ahlefeldt

The length of a coast all depends on the ruler used

The Danish coastline recently got a lot longer

Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

Walking the coast of Denmark… I read that the official total length of the Danish coastline is now 8.750km. – Up from 7.314km. in 2014 of a simple reason:

They use a smaller ruler – because longer is better these days – And there is no correct number, it could be 3000km. or 15.000 km. – It is all about how small a ruler you use and how small islands you include.

But the new length pushed Denmark up to a 17. place among countries with the longest coastline in the world ( / area )