Honestly, it’s one of those questions that feels like it should be on a third-grade geography quiz, but the deeper you look into it, the more complicated—and kinda weird—it gets. If you’re just looking for the quick, no-nonsense answer, here it is: Russia is the biggest country in the world. By a lot.
But saying "Russia is big" is like saying the ocean is a little damp. We’re talking about a landmass so massive it covers one-eighth of the entire inhabited planet. To put that in perspective, if you were to cut Russia in half, both halves would still be bigger than almost every other country on Earth. It spans eleven different time zones. You could be eating breakfast in Kaliningrad while someone on the other side of the country in Vladivostok is literally heading to bed.
Why the rankings get a little messy
Most people think measuring a country is as simple as drawing a line around it and doing the math. It isn’t. Geography nerds usually argue over two different metrics: Total Area and Land Area.
Total area includes everything—the dirt, the mountains, and all the lakes and rivers. Land area is just the dry stuff. This is where things get spicy for countries like Canada and the United States. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Because of all that water, Canada comfortably sits at the #2 spot for total area. But if you drained all the water and just measured the land, China actually jumps ahead of them.
Then you’ve got the United States. Depending on who you ask and how they count "territorial waters" or coastal lagoons, the U.S. and China constantly swap between the #3 and #4 spots. It’s a geopolitical game of musical chairs that never really ends.
Russia: The undisputed heavyweight champion
When we ask what is a biggest country in the world, Russia isn't just winning; it’s lapping the competition. Its total area sits at roughly 17.1 million square kilometers.
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To wrap your head around that, you could fit the entire United States into Russia... twice. Well, almost. It’s about 1.8 times the size of the U.S. and nearly double the size of Canada. Most of this space is taken up by Siberia, a region so vast and empty that the population density is basically two people per square kilometer.
How did it get so huge?
It wasn't just luck. Historically, Russia’s growth was a mix of aggressive expansion and the fact that they were moving into territory that nobody else really wanted (or could handle). Starting in the 16th century, Russian Cossacks began pushing east across the Ural Mountains.
They weren't hitting major empires; they were hitting vast, frozen forests and tundra inhabited by small indigenous groups. By the time they reached the Pacific Ocean in the mid-1600s, they had claimed millions of square miles of "empty" land. The harsh climate acted as a natural shield. If you're a rival empire, are you really going to march an army through thousands of miles of permafrost just to pick a fight over some pine trees? Probably not.
The "Giant" list (Total Area)
- Russia: 17.1 million $km^2$
- Canada: 9.98 million $km^2$
- China: 9.6 million $km^2$
- United States: 9.5 million $km^2$ (This number fluctuates based on how you count water)
- Brazil: 8.5 million $km^2$
The strange case of the "Ghost" continent
If we aren't talking strictly about sovereign nations, there’s a massive elephant in the room: Antarctica.
Antarctica is about 14 million square kilometers. That makes it bigger than the U.S. and China, and nearly 1.5 times the size of Europe. But since it’s governed by the Antarctic Treaty and has no permanent residents (unless you count scientists and penguins), it doesn't get a flag in the "biggest country" race.
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However, if the ice ever melts or the treaty expires, you bet your life every major power will be scrambling for a piece of that 5.4 million square miles. Seven countries already have dormant claims on it, including Australia and Argentina.
Does size actually matter for a country?
You’d think being the biggest would make you the most powerful, but it’s a double-edged sword. Russia’s size is its greatest defense—just ask Napoleon or Hitler—but it’s also a logistical nightmare.
- Infrastructure: Building a road or a railway across 11 time zones is insanely expensive.
- Governance: How do you make sure a village in the middle of the Arctic obeys the same rules as a suburb in Moscow?
- Defense: Russia has over 20,000 kilometers of land borders. That’s a lot of fence to watch.
In contrast, look at a country like India. It’s the 7th largest by area, but it has the largest population on Earth. It’s compact, dense, and arguably easier to manage (infrastructure-wise) than a sprawling giant like Canada or Russia, where most of the land is too cold or too rugged to actually use.
The land vs. water debate
If you ever want to win a bar bet, ask someone if Canada is bigger than China. They’ll likely say yes, and they'd be right... technically.
Canada covers about 9.98 million square kilometers. China is roughly 9.6 million. But about 9% of Canada is just water (lakes and rivers). If you look at land area alone, China has about 9.3 million square kilometers of dirt, while Canada only has about 9.1 million.
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So, if you’re a farmer, China is "bigger." If you’re a fisherman, Canada wins by a landslide.
Actionable insights for the curious
If you're planning to travel or study geography, don't just look at the map. Maps are notorious liars. Because of the Mercator projection (the way we flatten a round Earth onto a square map), countries near the poles look way bigger than they are. Greenland looks the size of Africa on some maps, but in reality, Africa is 14 times larger.
How to see the real world
- Use The True Size Of: There’s a great website called thetruesize.com where you can drag Russia or Canada over the equator. You'll see them "shrink" to their actual proportions relative to other countries.
- Check the Land Area: If you’re looking at a country's economic potential, always look at the land area and the "arable land" (land you can actually grow food on). Russia is huge, but a massive chunk of it is permafrost that’s useless for farming.
- Consider Time Zones: If you’re doing business with the biggest country in the world, remember that "tomorrow" in Moscow is already "today" in Vladivostok. Size isn't just distance; it's time.
The reality of what is a biggest country in the world is that Russia holds the crown and isn't letting go anytime soon. It’s a land of extremes—massive, cold, and incredibly diverse. Whether you measure by the dirt under your feet or the water in the lakes, the sheer scale of the Russian Federation is something that’s hard to truly grasp until you try to fly across it and realize it takes longer than crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
To get a better handle on world geography, your best next step is to look at a Galls-Peters projection map or a physical globe. It'll completely ruin your perception of how big Europe and North America are, but it's the only way to see how the world actually fits together.