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Ranking · Land and sea

Largest countries in the world by area

Russia is the largest country in the world, at 17.1 million km². Canada is second at 9.98 million km², just ahead of the United States at 9.83 million km². China is fourth and Brazil fifth. Russia alone covers one-eighth of the area of all the world's countries and territories, not counting Antarctica.

UN Demographic Yearbook, 2024 edition · 197 countries · Updated September 2026

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Five countries cover 40% of the area of all countries

Share of the area of all countries and territories, not counting Antarctica

13% 7% 7% 7% 6% Everyone else 60%
  • Russia 17,098,246
  • Canada 9,984,670
  • United States 9,833,517
  • China 9,600,000
  • Brazil 8,510,417
  • Everyone else 81,285,150

Total area in square kilometers, including lakes and rivers

World map shaded by total area in square kilometers, including lakes and rivers
  • Under 50,000
  • 50,000–250,000
  • 250,000–1 million
  • 1 million–3 million
  • Over 3 million
  • Not in this ranking
# Country Area (km²)
1 Russia 17,098,246
2 Canada 9,984,670
3 United States 9,833,517
4 China 9,600,000
5 Brazil 8,510,417
6 Australia 7,692,024
7 India 3,287,263
8 Argentina 2,796,427
9 Kazakhstan 2,724,910
10 Algeria 2,381,741
11 DR Congo 2,345,410
12 Saudi Arabia 2,206,714
13 Mexico 1,964,375
14 Indonesia 1,892,410
15 Sudan 1,878,000
16 Libya 1,676,198
17 Iran 1,630,848
18 Mongolia 1,564,116
19 Peru 1,285,216
20 Chad 1,284,000
21 Niger 1,267,000
22 Angola 1,246,700
23 Mali 1,240,192
24 South Africa 1,221,037
25 Colombia 1,141,748
26 Ethiopia 1,104,300
27 Bolivia 1,098,581
28 Mauritania 1,030,700
29 Egypt 1,002,000
30 Tanzania 947,303
31 Venezuela 929,690
32 Nigeria 923,768
33 Namibia 825,229
34 Mozambique 799,380
35 Pakistan 796,096
36 Turkey 783,562
37 Chile 756,102
38 Zambia 752,612
39 Myanmar 676,577
40 South Sudan 658,841
41 Afghanistan 652,864
42 Somalia 637,657
43 Central African Republic 622,984
44 Ukraine 603,500
45 Kenya 591,958
46 Madagascar 587,041
47 Botswana 581,730
48 France 551,500
49 Yemen 527,968
50 Thailand 513,140
51 Spain 506,009
52 Turkmenistan 488,100
53 Cameroon 475,650
54 Papua New Guinea 462,840
55 Uzbekistan 448,969
56 Morocco 446,550
57 Sweden 438,574
58 Iraq 435,052
59 Paraguay 406,752
60 Zimbabwe 390,757
61 Japan 377,930
62 Germany 357,581
63 Republic of the Congo 342,000
64 Finland 336,884
65 Vietnam 331,345
66 Malaysia 330,621
67 Norway 323,772
68 Côte d'Ivoire 322,462
69 Poland 312,679
70 Oman 309,980
71 Italy 302,068
72 Philippines 300,000
73 Burkina Faso 272,969
74 New Zealand 268,164
75 Gabon 267,668
76 Ecuador 257,215
77 Guinea 245,836
78 United Kingdom 244,376
79 Uganda 241,550
80 Ghana 238,537
81 Romania 238,398
82 Laos 236,800
83 Guyana 214,969
84 Belarus 207,600
85 Kyrgyzstan 199,949
86 Senegal 196,712
87 Syria 185,180
88 Cambodia 181,035
89 Uruguay 173,626
90 Suriname 163,820
91 Tunisia 163,610
92 Bangladesh 148,460
93 Nepal 147,181
94 Tajikistan 141,400
95 Greece 131,957
96 Nicaragua 130,374
97 Eritrea 121,144
98 North Korea 120,538
99 Malawi 117,726
100 Benin 114,763
101 Honduras 112,492
102 Liberia 111,369
103 Bulgaria 110,372
104 Cuba 109,884
105 Guatemala 108,889
106 Iceland 103,000
107 South Korea 100,460
108 Hungary 93,025
109 Portugal 92,225
110 Jordan 89,318
111 Azerbaijan 86,600
112 Austria 83,878
113 Czechia 78,871
114 Serbia 77,474
115 Panama 75,320
116 Sierra Leone 72,300
117 United Arab Emirates 71,024
118 Ireland 69,825
119 Georgia 69,700
120 Sri Lanka 65,610
121 Lithuania 65,286
122 Latvia 64,594
123 Togo 56,785
124 Croatia 56,594
125 Bosnia and Herzegovina 51,209
126 Costa Rica 51,170
127 Slovakia 49,035
128 Dominican Republic 48,671
129 Estonia 45,399
130 Denmark 42,947
131 Netherlands 41,543
132 Switzerland 41,291
133 Bhutan 38,394
134 Taiwan 36,197
135 Guinea-Bissau 36,125
136 Moldova 33,847
137 Belgium 30,528
138 Lesotho 30,355
139 Armenia 29,743
140 Solomon Islands 28,896
141 Albania 28,748
142 Equatorial Guinea 28,051
143 Burundi 27,834
144 Haiti 27,750
145 Rwanda 26,338
146 North Macedonia 25,713
147 Djibouti 23,200
148 Belize 22,966
149 Israel 22,072
150 El Salvador 21,041
151 Slovenia 20,273
152 Fiji 18,272
153 Kuwait 17,818
154 Eswatini 17,363
155 Timor-Leste 14,954
156 Bahamas 13,940
157 Montenegro 13,888
158 Vanuatu 12,189
159 Qatar 11,637
160 Gambia 11,295
161 Jamaica 10,990
162 Kosovo 10,887
163 Lebanon 10,452
164 Cyprus 9,251
165 Palestine 6,020
166 Brunei 5,765
167 Trinidad and Tobago 5,127
168 Cape Verde 4,033
169 Samoa 2,842
170 Luxembourg 2,586
171 Comoros 2,235
172 Mauritius 1,979
173 São Tomé and Príncipe 964
174 Bahrain 778
175 Dominica 750
176 Tonga 747
177 Singapore 736
178 Kiribati 726
179 Micronesia 702
180 Saint Lucia 616
181 Andorra 468
182 Palau 459
183 Seychelles 457
184 Antigua and Barbuda 442
185 Barbados 431
186 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 389
187 Grenada 345
188 Malta 315
189 Maldives 300
190 Saint Kitts and Nevis 261
191 Marshall Islands 181
192 Liechtenstein 160
193 San Marino 61
194 Tuvalu 26
195 Nauru 21
196 Monaco 2
197 Vatican City 0.44

Why they rank where they do

  • Russia

    Russia spans 11 time zones, from Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to Kamchatka on the Pacific. It once owned Alaska too, until it sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million.

  • Canada

    Canada has about 880,000 lakes of 10 hectares or more, more than any other country. Fresh water covers 891,163 km² of Canada, about 9% of its area.

  • United States

    The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 roughly doubled the size of the United States. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Mexico gave up 55% of its territory, counting Texas, to the United States.

  • China

    China borders 14 countries, tied with Russia for the most of any country.

  • Brazil

    Brazil covers nearly half of South America. It borders every South American country except Chile and Ecuador.

  • Australia

    Australia is the largest country with no land border.

  • Kazakhstan

    Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world. Russia leases the Baikonur Cosmodrome from Kazakhstan until 2050. Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin were both launched from Baikonur.

  • Algeria

    Algeria became Africa's largest country when South Sudan became independent from Sudan on July 9, 2011. The Sahara covers more than four-fifths of Algeria.

  • DR Congo

    King Leopold II of Belgium ruled what is now DR Congo as his personal possession from 1885 until Belgium annexed it in 1908. DR Congo is about 76 times the size of Belgium.

  • Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia is the largest country with no permanent river. It has only wadis, dry riverbeds that fill after rain.

Is the United States bigger than China?

It depends on whether water counts. The UN gives the United States a total area of 9,833,517 km² and China 9,600,000 km², so by total area the United States is larger. But the US total includes 685,924 km² of water: lakes and rivers, coastal water, the Great Lakes and the territorial sea.

By land alone, China is larger. China has about 9.33 million km² of land and the United States 9,147,593 km². Canada, with 9,093,507 km² of land, drops to fourth. By land, the order is Russia, China, the United States, Canada.

  1. Russia17,098,246
  2. Canada9,984,670
  3. United States9,833,517
  4. China9,600,000
  5. Brazil8,510,417
  6. Australia7,692,024

Why does Greenland look so big on maps?

Many world maps, and most online maps, use the Mercator projection, drawn by Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It stretches land near the poles. On a Mercator map, Greenland looks about as big as Africa. In fact Africa, about 30.3 million km², is about 14 times larger than Greenland, which covers 2,166,086 km². The maps on this page use the Equal Earth projection, which shows every country at its true relative size.

Greenland is a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark, so it is not counted here. Counted together, Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands would cover about 2,210,000 km² and rank 12th, just ahead of Saudi Arabia. The United States has wanted Greenland since at least 1946, when it secretly offered Denmark $100 million in gold for it. On September 22, 2026, the US, Denmark and Greenland signed a security deal at the UN that expands the US base at Pituffik and confirms Danish sovereignty. The parliaments of Denmark and Greenland still have to approve it.

Which countries count disputed land in their area?

India's official area includes the whole former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, 222,236 km². That includes about 78,114 km² held by Pakistan and about 37,555 km² of Aksai Chin held by China. Pakistan's official figure leaves out the parts of Kashmir that Pakistan holds.

China's figure leaves out Taiwan, which China claims. Morocco's figure leaves out Western Sahara, about 266,000 km², which the UN lists separately. Morocco claims all of Western Sahara and controls most of it. Russia's UN figure uses its internationally recognized borders. Russia's own official figure, 17,125,191 km², adds Crimea and Sevastopol, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

What is the smallest country in the world?

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, at 0.44 km², about 44 hectares. It became an independent state under the Lateran Treaty, signed on February 11, 1929, by Cardinal Pietro Gasparri and Benito Mussolini.

Monaco is the second smallest at about 2 km², and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has grown by building on the sea: Mareterra, about 6 hectares of reclaimed land, was finished in December 2024. The next smallest are Nauru at 21 km², Tuvalu at 26 km², San Marino at 61 km² and Liechtenstein at 160 km².

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PopulationUN 2025 1India1.46B 2China1.42B 3United States347M Critical mineralsUSGS 2025 1China69.2% 2United States13.1% 3Australia7.4% Oil productionEIA 2025 1United States13.59M 2Russia9.88M 3Saudi Arabia9.56M
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