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Abstract Coastal ecosystems provide vital services, but human disturbance causes massive losses. Remaining ecosystems are squeezed between rising seas and human infrastructure development. While shoreline retreat is intensively studied, coastal congestion through infrastructure remains unquantified. Here we analyse 235,469 transects worldwide to show that infrastructure occurs at a median distance of 392 meter from sandy shorelines. Moreover, we find that 33% of sandy shores harbour less than 100 m of infrastructure-free space, and that 23–30% of this space may be lost by 2100 due to rising sea levels. Further analyses show that population density and gross domestic product explain 35–39% of observed squeeze variation, emphasizing the intensifying pressure imposed as countries develop and populations grow. Encouragingly, we find that nature reserves relieve squeezing by 4–7 times. Yet, at present only 16% of world’s sandy shores have a protected status. We therefore advocate the incorporation of nature protection into spatial planning policies.