Honestly, if you look at a standard wall map, you’d think Russia is basically the size of a small planet. It’s huge. Like, "eleven time zones and two continents" huge. But here is the thing: maps lie to us. They’ve been lying to us since the 1500s because of a guy named Gerardus Mercator.
He designed the map we all know to help sailors navigate in straight lines, but to do that, he had to stretch the world. This makes anything far from the Equator look absolutely massive. So, while Russia is definitely the largest country in the world, it isn't quite the "bigger than Africa" behemoth that Google Maps might suggest.
The Raw Numbers (They're Still Mind-Blowing)
Even without the map distortion, the scale is hard to wrap your head around. Russia clocks in at roughly 17,098,242 square kilometers (about 6.6 million square miles).
To put that in perspective, Russia covers about 11% of the Earth's entire landmass. It’s nearly double the size of Canada, which sits at number two.
- Russia: 17.1 million $km^2$
- Canada: 9.98 million $km^2$
- China: 9.7 million $km^2$
- United States: 9.37 million $km^2$
You've probably heard people say Russia is bigger than Pluto. For a long time, that was a favorite "did you know" fact on Reddit. However, NASA’s New Horizons mission back in 2015 actually recalibrated Pluto's surface area to about 17.6 million $km^2$. So, Pluto has reclaimed its title, but it's a tight race. Russia is essentially a dwarf planet sitting on the side of our Earth.
Why Russia’s Size Is Kinda a Problem
Being the largest country in the world sounds great until you have to actually manage it. Imagine trying to run a country where, when someone in Kaliningrad is eating breakfast, someone in Vladivostok is already heading to the bar for an after-work drink.
Most of this land is Siberia. It’s beautiful, sure, but it’s also brutal. We are talking about the Great Vasyugan Swamp, the largest swamp in the northern hemisphere, and the Siberian Taiga, which is the largest forest in the world.
- The Permafrost Factor: About 60% of Russia’s land is sitting on permafrost. You can’t easily build roads there. You can’t easily farm there.
- The Population Density: Even though the country is giant, the vast majority of people (about 75-80%) live in the "European" part of Russia, west of the Ural Mountains.
- Logistics: Moving stuff from one side to the other requires the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 9,289 km trek that takes almost a week to finish.
The "Total Area" vs. "Land Area" Debate
This is where Google searches get messy. If you search for the largest country in the world, you might see Canada or the US jump around in the rankings. Why? Because of water.
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Seriously. If you only count land area, China is actually larger than Canada. But if you count total area (land + lakes + inlets), Canada takes the silver medal.
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The US is also a weird one. Depending on whether you count "coastal and territorial waters," the US sometimes edges out China for the #3 spot. But no matter how you slice the math, Russia stays at the top. It’s just too big to be dethroned by a few lakes.
The Geopolitical Side of Being Huge
Being big means you have a lot of neighbors. Russia shares borders with 14 different countries, ranging from Norway and Poland in the west to North Korea in the east.
It also means you have a ridiculous amount of natural resources. Russia holds the world's largest proven natural gas reserves and massive amounts of oil, coal, and timber. It’s also home to Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on the planet. It holds about 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface freshwater. That's more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Is It Actually Shrinking?
Sorta. But not geographically. While the borders haven't moved much (territorial disputes notwithstanding), the population has been a different story. For a country that big, it has a relatively small population of about 144 million. For comparison, Bangladesh is about 115 times smaller than Russia but has more people.
What You Should Do With This Info
If you're a traveler or a geography nerd, stop looking at Mercator maps. Check out a site like The True Size Of, where you can drag Russia over the Equator. You'll see it "shrink" as it moves south, giving you a much better feel for how it actually compares to Africa or South America.
Also, if you're ever planning a trip, don't try to "see Russia" in a week. Pick a region. Whether it’s the golden ring around Moscow or the volcanoes of Kamchatka, treat it like visiting a whole continent. Because, basically, it is one.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Use a Globe: If you want to see the real proportions of the largest country in the world, a physical globe or a 3D digital tool like Google Earth is the only way to avoid the 2D distortion.
- Compare Land vs. Total Area: Next time you see a ranking, check if they are including water. It changes the #2, #3, and #4 spots significantly.
- Explore the Urals: Research the Ural Mountains; they are the "official" line that splits Russia between Europe and Asia, and they are some of the oldest mountains on Earth.