You think you know how big the world is. You probably grew up staring at that rectangular Mercator map on the classroom wall, the one where Greenland looks like a bloated monster ready to swallow Africa whole.
It’s a lie. Well, a mathematical necessity that turned into a visual lie.
Actually, Greenland is about the size of Mexico. Africa is fourteen times larger than it. When you look at a list of the largest countries, you aren't just looking at numbers; you’re looking at how land defines power, climate, and the sheer logistical nightmare of governing a place that spans eleven time zones.
Geography is messy. Borders shift, ice melts, and sometimes, the way we measure "area" depends entirely on whether you count the water inside the borders or just the dirt.
The undisputed giant: Russia's lonely throne
Russia is big. Like, "pluto-is-barely-bigger" big.
With a total area of approximately 17,098,242 square kilometers, it occupies about 11% of the entire Earth's landmass. If you hopped on a train in Vladivostok, you’d spend a week chugging across the landscape before you even smelled the Baltic Sea in Kaliningrad.
It's essentially two different countries stitched together by the Ural Mountains. The European side is where everyone lives—crowded, historical, and bustling. The Asian side, Siberia, is a vast, frozen expanse of taiga and permafrost that holds enough natural gas to power the planet but is so remote that some parts are still barely explored.
Honestly, the sheer scale is hard to wrap your head around. It borders fourteen different nations. It has more time zones than you have fingers. Even if you chopped Russia in half, both halves would still be among the largest "countries" on the planet.
The North American toss-up: Canada vs. The United States
This is where the list of the largest countries gets controversial.
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If you look at total area (land + water), Canada takes the silver medal. It clocks in at 9,984,670 square kilometers. Canada is basically a giant sponge; it has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
But wait.
If you only count land area, the United States often jumps ahead.
The U.S. total area is roughly 9,833,517 square kilometers, but this number fluctuates depending on who you ask. The CIA World Factbook and the UN sometimes disagree on how to measure coastal waters and the Great Lakes.
Why the U.S. measurements keep changing
- 1989: The U.S. was listed as smaller than China.
- 1997: The U.S. added "coastal waters" to its total, bumping it up.
- 2007: They added "territorial waters" too.
It feels a bit like a geographic ego trip, doesn't it? Regardless of the technicalities, Canada remains a land of "empty" space. About 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border. The rest is a brutal, beautiful wilderness of tundra and granite.
China: The third (or fourth) wheel
China is almost exactly the same size as the United States, hovering around 9,596,961 square kilometers.
While the U.S. and Canada are largely defined by their vast plains and forests, China is a topographical jigsaw puzzle. You've got the Gobi Desert in the north, the Himalayas in the west, and the fertile, teeming river basins in the east.
What’s wild is the population density. Russia has 146 million people. China has over 1.4 billion.
Imagine squeezing the population of four United States into a space roughly the size of... the United States. That's China. It’s a masterclass in how a country's size doesn't always translate to "breathing room."
The southern powerhouses: Brazil and Australia
Brazil is the king of the south. At 8,515,767 square kilometers, it’s larger than the contiguous United States.
If you took Brazil and plopped it over Europe, it would cover almost the entire continent. Most people associate it with the Amazon rainforest, which is fair—the Amazon is the lungs of the world. But Brazil also has massive highlands and a coastline that feels like it goes on forever.
Then there's Australia.
Australia is the only country that is also an entire continent. It’s roughly 7,692,024 square kilometers.
It’s the "island continent."
While it looks huge, it's mostly "the Outback." A massive, arid interior where almost nothing lives except for very hardy plants and animals that are probably trying to kill you. Because of this, Australia's population is tiny compared to its size. Most of the 26 million residents are huddled in a few coastal cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
The mid-tier giants: India and Argentina
India is the seventh-largest country, and this is where the gap starts to widen.
At 3,287,263 square kilometers, India is about one-third the size of the U.S.
However, it’s currently the most populous nation on Earth. The pressure on the land here is immense. Every square kilometer in India has to work ten times harder than a square kilometer in Canada.
Following India is Argentina (2,780,400 square kilometers).
Argentina is a geography nerd’s dream. You go from the tropical jungles in the north to the glacial winds of Patagonia in the south. It has the Andes mountains as a spine and the flat, fertile Pampas as its heart. It’s a massive amount of territory for a relatively small population of 46 million.
The "Landlocked" King: Kazakhstan
Most people forget about Kazakhstan.
They shouldn't.
Coming in at 2,724,900 square kilometers, it’s the largest landlocked country in the world. It’s essentially a massive bridge between Europe and Asia. For a long time, it was just seen as a "Soviet backyard," used for space launches and nuclear testing.
Today, it's a central player in global energy. It’s mostly steppe—flat, grassy plains that seem to touch the horizon in every direction. If you like wide-open spaces, Kazakhstan makes the American Midwest look like a crowded elevator.
Africa's biggest player: Algeria
For a long time, Sudan was the largest country in Africa.
Then 2011 happened.
South Sudan split off, and Algeria took the crown. With 2,381,741 square kilometers, it’s the tenth-largest country on the list of the largest countries.
About 80% of Algeria is the Sahara Desert.
Think about that. An area larger than most European countries combined is just shifting sand and rock. The heat is legendary. Most of the population lives in the north, near the Mediterranean coast, where the air is cool and the land is green. The rest of the country is a beautiful, inhospitable furnace.
What to do with this info
Size matters, but not in the way we think.
When you're planning travel or looking at global politics, remember that "area" is often a distraction. A country can be massive and empty (Mongolia) or small and incredibly influential (Singapore).
If you really want to understand the scale of these places, stop looking at the Mercator map. Go use a tool like The True Size Of. It lets you drag countries around the globe to see how they actually compare when you account for the curvature of the Earth.
Next Steps for You:
Check your favorite world map. If it shows Greenland being the same size as Africa, toss it. It's distorting your worldview. Instead, look for an AuthaGraph or a Winkel Tripel projection. These maps are much better at showing you the real proportions of our planet without making the northern hemisphere look like it's on steroids.
Once you see the true scale of the "Big Ten," you'll realize that the world isn't just a list of numbers—it's a collection of vast, empty wildernesses and hyper-dense urban jungles that all happen to share the same spinning rock.