The Maldives consists of 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of twenty-seven atolls situated in the Indian Ocean. Most atolls consist of a large, ring-shaped coral reef supporting numerous small islands. The country covers an area approximately 90,000 square kilometres, of which only 298 square kilometres is dry land. The islands are of average one to two square kilometres in area, and no individual island is longer than eight kilometres. The Maldives lies between 1-1.5 meters above sea level, with the highest island situated at 3 meters above sea level.