The Most Remote Pacific island

Executive summary by darmansjah

Many of the world’s most remote islands, such as Bouvetoya and Tristan da Cunha, are in the South Atlantic, where the climate lends itself less to castaway fantasies than palm-fringed Pacific atolls. But even within the Pacific Ocean, how do you define remoteness? Uninhabited Henderson Island, part of the Pitcairn Island group, is 3,232 miles from the nearest major landfall in New Zealand. The Japanese island of Minamitorishima is 631 miles across open ocean from the nearest land of any size. But if you want to know how far you are from civilisation, here we have measured the distance to the nearest big population centre 10,000-plus people, to be safe.

Easter Island, Chile 2,181 miles

Pitcairn Island, Uk 1,318 miles

Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kriribati 1,164 miles

Midway Atoll, USA 1,177 miles

Mangareva, French Polynesia 983 miles

Malden Island, Kiribati 901 miles

Wake Island, USA 882 miles

Nuku HIva, French Polynesia 851 miles

Minamitorishima, Japan 814 miles

Rapa Iti, French Polynesia 733 miles