Largest Country in the World by Area - Ranking

Discover what is the largest country in the world by area. Complete list of all countries sorted by land area from the largest to the smallest territories.

253 Countries

Sorted by: Area ↓

Rank	Country	Area	Continent
1	Russia	17,098,242 km²	Europe
2	Antarctica	14,200,000 km²	Antarctica
3	Canada	9,984,670 km²	North America
4	United States	9,833,517 km²	North America
5	China	9,596,960 km²	Asia
6	Brazil	8,515,770 km²	South America
7	Australia	7,741,220 km²	Oceania
8	India	3,287,263 km²	Asia
9	Argentina	2,780,400 km²	South America
10	Kazakhstan	2,724,900 km²	Asia
11	Algeria	2,381,740 km²	Africa
12	Democratic Republic of the Congo	2,344,858 km²	Africa
13	Greenland	2,166,086 km²	North America
14	Saudi Arabia	2,149,690 km²	Asia
15	Mexico	1,964,375 km²	North America
16	Indonesia	1,904,569 km²	Asia
17	Sudan	1,861,484 km²	Africa
18	Libya	1,759,540 km²	Africa
19	Iran	1,648,195 km²	Asia
20	Mongolia	1,564,116 km²	Asia
21	Peru	1,285,216 km²	South America
22	Chad	1,284,000 km²	Africa
23	Niger	1,267,000 km²	Africa
24	Angola	1,246,700 km²	Africa
25	Mali	1,240,192 km²	Africa
26	South Africa	1,219,090 km²	Africa
27	Colombia	1,138,910 km²	South America
28	Ethiopia	1,104,300 km²	Africa
29	Bolivia	1,098,581 km²	South America
30	Mauritania	1,030,700 km²	Africa
31	Egypt	1,001,450 km²	Africa
32	Tanzania	947,300 km²	Africa
33	Nigeria	923,768 km²	Africa
34	Venezuela	912,050 km²	South America
35	Namibia	824,292 km²	Africa
36	Mozambique	799,380 km²	Africa
37	Pakistan	796,095 km²	Asia
38	Turkey	783,562 km²	Asia
39	Chile	756,102 km²	South America
40	Zambia	752,618 km²	Africa
41	Morocco	716,550 km²	Africa
42	Myanmar	676,578 km²	Asia
43	Afghanistan	652,230 km²	Asia
44	South Sudan	644,329 km²	Africa
45	France	643,801 km²	Europe
46	Somalia	637,657 km²	Africa
47	Central African Republic	622,984 km²	Africa
48	Ukraine	603,550 km²	Europe
49	Madagascar	587,041 km²	Africa
50	Botswana	581,730 km²	Africa
51	Kenya	580,367 km²	Africa
52	Yemen	527,968 km²	Asia
53	Thailand	513,120 km²	Asia
54	Spain	505,370 km²	Europe
55	Turkmenistan	488,100 km²	Asia
56	Cameroon	475,440 km²	Africa
57	Papua New Guinea	462,840 km²	Oceania
58	Sweden	450,295 km²	Europe
59	Uzbekistan	447,400 km²	Asia
60	Iraq	438,317 km²	Asia
61	Paraguay	406,752 km²	South America
62	Zimbabwe	390,757 km²	Africa
63	Japan	377,915 km²	Asia
64	Germany	357,022 km²	Europe
65	Republic of the Congo	342,000 km²	Africa
66	Finland	338,145 km²	Europe
67	Vietnam	331,210 km²	Asia
68	Malaysia	329,847 km²	Asia
69	Norway	323,802 km²	Europe
70	Ivory Coast	322,463 km²	Africa
71	Poland	312,685 km²	Europe
72	Oman	309,500 km²	Asia
73	Italy	301,340 km²	Europe
74	Philippines	300,000 km²	Asia
75	Ecuador	283,561 km²	South America
76	Burkina Faso	274,200 km²	Africa
77	Western Sahara	272,000 km²	Africa
78	New Zealand	268,838 km²	Oceania
79	Gabon	267,667 km²	Africa
80	Guinea	245,857 km²	Africa
81	United Kingdom	243,610 km²	Europe
82	Uganda	241,038 km²	Africa
83	Ghana	238,533 km²	Africa
84	Romania	238,391 km²	Europe
85	Laos	236,800 km²	Asia
86	Guyana	214,969 km²	South America
87	Belarus	207,600 km²	Europe
88	Kyrgyzstan	199,951 km²	Asia
89	Senegal	196,722 km²	Africa
90	Syria	187,437 km²	Asia
91	Cambodia	181,035 km²	Asia
92	Uruguay	176,215 km²	South America
93	Suriname	163,820 km²	South America
94	Tunisia	163,610 km²	Africa
95	Bangladesh	148,460 km²	Asia
96	Nepal	147,181 km²	Asia
97	Tajikistan	144,100 km²	Asia
98	Greece	131,957 km²	Europe
99	Nicaragua	130,370 km²	North America
100	North Korea	120,538 km²	Asia
101	Malawi	118,484 km²	Africa
102	Eritrea	117,600 km²	Africa
103	Benin	112,622 km²	Africa
104	Honduras	112,090 km²	North America
105	Liberia	111,369 km²	Africa
106	Bulgaria	110,879 km²	Europe
107	Cuba	110,860 km²	North America
108	Guatemala	108,889 km²	North America
109	Iceland	103,000 km²	Europe
110	South Korea	99,720 km²	Asia
111	Hungary	93,028 km²	Europe
112	Portugal	92,090 km²	Europe
113	Jordan	89,342 km²	Asia
114	Azerbaijan	86,600 km²	Asia
115	Austria	83,871 km²	Europe
116	United Arab Emirates	83,600 km²	Asia
117	Czech Republic	78,867 km²	Europe
118	Serbia	77,474 km²	Europe
119	Panama	75,420 km²	North America
120	Sierra Leone	71,740 km²	Africa
121	Ireland	70,273 km²	Europe
122	Georgia	69,700 km²	Asia
123	Sri Lanka	65,610 km²	Asia
124	Lithuania	65,300 km²	Europe
125	Latvia	64,589 km²	Europe
126	Svalbard and Jan Mayen	62,045 km²	Europe
127	Togo	56,785 km²	Africa
128	Croatia	56,594 km²	Europe
129	Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,197 km²	Europe
130	Costa Rica	51,100 km²	North America
131	Slovakia	49,035 km²	Europe
132	Dominican Republic	48,670 km²	North America
133	Estonia	45,228 km²	Europe
134	Denmark	43,094 km²	Europe
135	Netherlands	41,543 km²	Europe
136	Switzerland	41,277 km²	Europe
137	Bhutan	38,394 km²	Asia
138	Guinea-Bissau	36,125 km²	Africa
139	Taiwan	35,980 km²	Asia
140	Moldova	33,851 km²	Europe
141	Belgium	30,528 km²	Europe
142	Lesotho	30,355 km²	Africa
143	Armenia	29,743 km²	Asia
144	Solomon Islands	28,896 km²	Oceania
145	Albania	28,748 km²	Europe
146	Equatorial Guinea	28,051 km²	Africa
147	Burundi	27,830 km²	Africa
148	Haiti	27,750 km²	North America
149	Rwanda	26,338 km²	Africa
150	North Macedonia	25,713 km²	Europe
151	Djibouti	23,200 km²	Africa
152	Belize	22,966 km²	North America
153	Israel	21,937 km²	Asia
154	El Salvador	21,041 km²	North America
155	Slovenia	20,273 km²	Europe
156	New Caledonia	18,575 km²	Oceania
157	Fiji	18,274 km²	Oceania
158	Kuwait	17,818 km²	Asia
159	Eswatini	17,364 km²	Africa
160	Timor-Leste	14,874 km²	Asia
161	The Bahamas	13,880 km²	North America
162	Montenegro	13,812 km²	Europe
163	Vanuatu	12,189 km²	Oceania
164	Falkland Islands	12,173 km²	South America
165	Qatar	11,586 km²	Asia
166	The Gambia	11,300 km²	Africa
167	Jamaica	10,991 km²	North America
168	Kosovo	10,887 km²	Europe
169	Lebanon	10,400 km²	Asia
170	Cyprus	9,251 km²	Asia
171	Puerto Rico	9,104 km²	North America
172	Brunei	5,765 km²	Asia
173	West Bank	5,655 km²	Asia
174	Trinidad and Tobago	5,128 km²	North America
175	French Polynesia	4,167 km²	Oceania
176	Cape Verde	4,033 km²	Africa
177	Samoa	2,831 km²	Oceania
178	Luxembourg	2,586 km²	Europe
179	Comoros	2,235 km²	Africa
180	Mauritius	2,040 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
181	United States Virgin Islands	1,910 km²	North America
182	Guadeloupe	1,628 km²	North America
183	Faroe Islands	1,393 km²	Europe
184	Hong Kong	1,108 km²	Asia
185	São Tomé and Príncipe	964 km²	Africa
186	Turks and Caicos Islands	948 km²	North America
187	Kiribati	811 km²	Oceania
188	Bahrain	760 km²	Asia
189	Dominica	751 km²	North America
190	Tonga	747 km²	Oceania
191	Singapore	719 km²	Asia
192	Federated States of Micronesia	702 km²	Oceania
193	Saint Lucia	616 km²	North America
194	Isle of Man	572 km²	Europe
195	Guam	544 km²	Oceania
196	Andorra	468 km²	Europe
197	Northern Mariana Islands	464 km²	Oceania
198	Palau	459 km²	Oceania
199	Seychelles	455 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
200	Curaçao	444 km²	North America
201	Antigua and Barbuda	443 km²	North America
202	Barbados	430 km²	North America
203	Heard Island and McDonald Islands	412 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
204	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	394 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
205	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389 km²	North America
206	Grenada	344 km²	North America
207	Malta	316 km²	Europe
208	Maldives	298 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
209	Cayman Islands	264 km²	North America
210	Saint Kitts and Nevis	261 km²	North America
211	Niue	260 km²	Oceania
212	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	242 km²	North America
213	Cook Islands	236 km²	Oceania
214	American Samoa	224 km²	Oceania
215	Marshall Islands	181 km²	Oceania
216	Aruba	180 km²	North America
217	Liechtenstein	160 km²	Europe
218	British Virgin Islands	151 km²	North America
219	Wallis and Futuna	142 km²	Oceania
220	Christmas Island	135 km²	Asia
221	Jersey	116 km²	Europe
222	Montserrat	102 km²	North America
223	Anguilla	91 km²	North America
224	Guernsey	78 km²	Europe
225	San Marino	61 km²	Europe
226	British Indian Ocean Territory	60 km²	Seven seas (open ocean)
227	Bermuda	54 km²	North America
228	Saint-Martin	50 km²	North America
229	United States Minor Outlying Islands	49 km²	North America
230	Bouvet Island	49 km²	Antarctica
231	Pitcairn Islands	47 km²	Oceania
232	Norfolk Island	36 km²	Oceania
233	Sint Maarten	34 km²	North America
234	Macau	28 km²	Asia
235	Tuvalu	26 km²	Oceania
236	Saint Barthélemy	25 km²	North America
237	Nauru	21 km²	Oceania
238	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	14 km²	Oceania
239	Tokelau	12 km²	Insular Oceania
240	Gibraltar	7 km²	Europe
241	Monaco	2 km²	Europe

What is the Largest Country in the World by Area?

The largest country in the world by area is Russia, spanning an impressive 17,098,242 square kilometers (km²). When people ask "what is the largest country in the world," the answer is definitively Russia, which covers more than one-eighth of Earth's inhabited land area.

This comprehensive ranking shows all countries sorted by their total land area, helping you understand which country has the largest territory globally. The largest country by area comparison reveals fascinating geographical insights about how nations differ in size across continents.

The top three largest countries in the world—Russia, Antarctica, and Canada—together account for a significant portion of the world's total land mass. Understanding what is the largest country helps put global geography into perspective.

Our ranking is regularly updated with the latest geographical data, ensuring you always have accurate information about the largest country in the world and how all nations compare by territorial size.

Top 3 Largest Countries by Area

🥇

Russia

17,098,242

km²

🥈

Antarctica

14,200,000

km²

🥉

Canada

9,984,670

km²

Understanding the Largest Countries by Area

Size Distribution

When examining what is the largest country in the world, it's remarkable that Russia is almost twice the size of the second-largest country. The top 10 largest countries by area contain the majority of the world's land mass.

Continental Champions

Each continent has its own largest country. Understanding which country has the largest territory on each continent provides insights into regional geography and geopolitical significance across the globe.

Area vs Population

Interestingly, the largest country by area doesn't always correlate with population. Some of the world's largest countries have relatively sparse populations due to climate and terrain factors.

Geographical Facts

The largest country in the world spans multiple time zones and climate regions. This ranking helps visualize the dramatic size differences between nations, from massive continental powers to tiny island states.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the largest country in the world?

Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering 17,098,242 km². It spans Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, making it the undisputed largest country by territorial size.

Which are the top 5 largest countries by area?

The five largest countries in the world are: Russia, Antarctica, Canada, United States, China. These nations dominate the global land mass distribution.

How much bigger is the largest country compared to others?

Russia, the largest country by area, is approximately 1.2x larger than Antarctica, the second-largest country. It's so vast it spans 11 time zones and two continents.

What is the smallest country in the world by area?

While this page focuses on the largest countries, the smallest country in the world by area is Vatican City at just 0.44 km², located within Rome, Italy. This creates an incredible size contrast with the largest country in the world.