Ranked: The 15 Largest Countries in the World by Land Area

Ranked: The 15 Largest Countries in the World by Land Area

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This graphic ranks the 15 largest countries in the world, by land area. Data is sourced from the World Bank, last updated January, 2025.

It also includes the share of forest and agricultural land per country. We explain how these metrics are calculated in later sections.

Canada Loses Out in Land Area

Russia is the largest country by land area (16.4 million km² / 6.2 million sq. miles), nearly double the size of second-ranked China (9.4 million km² / 3.6 million sq. miles ).

But hold on, isn’t Canada supposed to be the second-largest country in the world? The answer is: it depends.

As previously mentioned, land area is a very specific term that doesn’t include area under lakes and rivers. As a result, Canada—where 9% of the total area is covered by freshwater—loses some ground to peers.

Per the World Bank, land area is an important estimation of a country’s agricultural ability and is used to track the environmental effects of human activity.

Most Countries Are Forests and Farmland

A benefit of measuring land area is seeing how much of a share forests and agricultural land take up.

In Russia, for example, nearly half of its entire area is covered by forests.

In China and the U.S. most of the land available is used for agriculture.

Speaking of agricultural land: Saudi Arabia has it listed at 81% of the land area. This is odd, since most of the country is a desert, with little precipitation, and not exactly suitable for farming.

A quick check of the metadata reveals that agricultural land is a self-reported figure and includes croplands, pastures, and land devoted to the rearing of animals.

In short, the country may have zoned or declared land as agricultural, even if it’s not used as such.

Also, Where Do Humans Live?

Over the last century, more and more of the human population has moved to cities.

As a result they’ve become hubs of economic growth, in turn attracting more people, and many of them are more populous than entire countries.

But cities don’t take up much room, especially compared to forests.

In the top 15 ranks, China has the largest share of urban land (5%), as well as the most area built into cities.

Australia has the least share (0.16%) but Sudan has the smallest total city area (3,790 km²), as its people live mostly in the rural countryside.

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Wondering what the largest cities in the world are? Check out: Ranked: All the Cities Larger Than NYC for another comparison chart.