The country in the world with the largest population but not the largest land mass is

Dymaxion map of the world with the 30 largest countries and territories by total area according to the table below, roughly to scale.

The top 10 largest countries occupy nearly half of the world's dry land.

  Other (52.5%)

This is a list of the world's countries and their dependent territories by land, water and total area, ranked by total area.

Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which includes sovereign states and dependent territories. All 193 member states of the United Nations plus the two observer states are given a rank number. Largely unrecognised states not in ISO 3166-1 are included in the list in ranked order. The areas of such largely unrecognised states are in most cases also included in the areas of the more widely recognised states that claim the same territory; see the notes in the "notes" column for each country for clarification.

Not included in the list are individual country claims to parts of the continent of Antarctica or entities such as the European Union[Note 2] that have some degree of sovereignty but do not consider themselves to be sovereign countries or dependent territories.

This list includes three measurements of area:

• Total area: the sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines.
• Land area: the aggregate of all land within international boundaries and coastlines, excluding water area.
• Water area: the sum of the surface areas of all inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, and rivers) within international boundaries and coastlines.[2] Coastal internal waters may be included. Territorial seas are not included unless otherwise noted. Contiguous zones and exclusive economic zones are not included.

Data is taken from the United Nations Statistics Division unless otherwise noted.[3]

Map

World map, except Antarctica, colour-coded by areas of countries in square kilometres.

Countries and dependencies by area

Charts

The charts below are based on the CIA World Factbook[45] as of 15 February 2005.

Sovereign states with areas greater than 100,000 km2 are shown in green. In addition, non-sovereign territories are included for purposes of comparison, and are shown in gray. Areas include inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Claims to parts of Antarctica by various countries are not included.

Countries larger than 1.5 million km2

Countries between 100,000 km2 and 1.5 million km2

See also

• List of countries and dependencies by population density
• List of countries and dependencies by population
• List of European countries by area
• List of largest empires
• List of political and geographic subdivisions by total area
• List of sovereign states
• Orders of magnitude (area)

Explanatory notes

1. ^ a b With its surface area including all or parts of 17 of the world's 40 largest freshwater lakes, Canada is smaller than China and the United States in land area.
2. ^ The European Union is a unique supranational union. It covers a total area of 4,236,351 km2 (1,635,664 sq mi),[1] and would be ranked 7th if it were included (3.0% of world's total land area).
3. ^ The following countries have territorial claims in Antarctica: Argentina (969,000 km2 or 374,000 sq mi), Australia (5,896,500 km2 or 2,276,700 sq mi), Chile (1,250,000 km2 or 480,000 sq mi), France (432,000 km2 or 167,000 sq mi), New Zealand (450,000 km2 or 170,000 sq mi), Norway (including Peter I Island) (2,500,000 km2 or 970,000 sq mi) and United Kingdom (1,395,000 km2 or 539,000 sq mi), which to some extent overlap. The area from 90°W to 150°W (2,100,000 km2 or 810,000 sq mi) is currently unclaimed territory. These areas usually have no human inhabitants, excluding scientists.
4. ^ a b The following two primary sources (non-mirrored) represent the range (min./max.) of estimates of China's and the United States' total areas. Both sources (1) exclude Taiwan from the area of China; (2) exclude China's coastal and territorial waters. However, the CIA World Factbook includes the United States coastal and territorial waters, while Encyclopædia Britannica excludes the United States coastal and territorial waters.
   1. The Encyclopædia Britannica lists China as world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) with a total area of 9,572,900 km2,[6] and the United States as fourth-largest at 9,525,067 km2.[7]
   2. The CIA World Factbook lists China as fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and the United States) with a total area of 9,596,960 km2,[8] and the United States as the third-largest at 9,833,517 km2.[9]

   Notably, Encyclopædia Britannica specifies the United States' area (excluding coastal and territorial waters) as 9,525,067 km2, which is less than either source's figure given for China's area.[7] Therefore, while it can be determined that China has a larger area excluding coastal and territorial waters, it is unclear which country has a larger area including coastal and territorial waters.

   The United Nations Statistics Division's figure for the United States is 9,833,517 km2 and China is 9,596,961 km2. These closely match the CIA World Factbook figures and similarly include coastal and territorial waters for the United States, but exclude coastal and territorial waters for China.

   A discrepancy was deduced from comparing the CIA World Factbook and its previous iterations[10] against the information for United States in Encyclopædia Britannica, particularly its footnote section.[7] In sum, according to older versions of the CIA World Factbook (from 1982 to 1996), the U.S. was listed as the world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and China) with a total area of 9,372,610 km2. However, in the 1997 edition, the U.S. added coastal waters to its total area (increasing it to 9,629,091 km2). And then again in 2007, the U.S. added territorial water to its total area (increasing it to 9,833,517 km2). During this time, China's total area remained unchanged. In other words, no coastal or territorial water area was added to China's total area figure. The United States has a coastal water area of 109,362 km2, and a territorial water area of 195,213 km2, for a total of 304,575 km2 of additional water space. This is larger than entire countries like Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Adding this figure to the U.S. will boost it over China in ranking since China's coastal and territorial water figures are currently unknown (no official publication) and thus cannot be added into China's total area figure.

5. ^ Approx. 7% of Brazil's land is located in the Northern Hemisphere. Its Southern Hemisphere portion (approx. 7,920,000 km2) is still significantly bigger than Australia. Although the U.S. has American Samoa, Jarvis Island, and a small portion of its territorial sea south of Baker Island in the Southern Hemisphere, it is not generally regarded as a Southern Hemisphere country.
6. ^ Figures exclude the external territories of Norfolk Island, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands Territory, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands,[12] each shown separately. Excludes the claim of the Australian Antarctic Territory (5,896,500 km2 or 2,276,700 sq mi). The UN's previous data,[13] as well as the current data shown by the World Bank and the CIA,[1][14] give the figure as 7,741,220 km2 (2,988,900 sq mi).
7. ^ The total area given is from Encyclopædia Britannica and includes disputed territories not under Indian control but claimed by India. The total area claimed by India, according to the figure given by the United Nations and the Indian government, totals 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi).[15]
8. ^ Excludes claims on Argentine Antarctica (969,000 km2 or 374,000 sq mi), on Malvinas/Falkland Islands (12,173 km2 or 4,700 sq mi) and on South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (3,903 km2 or 1,507 sq mi).
9. ^ The area of internal waters is officially reported as 0[17] even though several seasonal lakes and permanent reservoirs exist in the country.
10. ^ A total of 1,755,636 km2 (677,855 sq mi) (81%) of the land area is covered by ice; the ice-free area amounts to 410,450 km2 (158,480 sq mi).[14]
11. ^ a b The water area percentage of Sudan prior to the secession of South Sudan was 5.18.
12. ^ The area given is from the 2007 data and the CIA World Factbook.[1][13] The UN Demographic Yearbook lists a figure of 1,628,750 km2 (628,860 sq mi), which refers to land area only.
13. ^ Excluding the Ilemi Triangle (14,000 km2 or 5,400 sq mi).
14. ^ Excludes claims on Guayana Esequiba (160,000 km2 or 62,000 sq mi)
15. ^ By default, internationally sourced and published statistics include data for the Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir: Azad Kashmir (13,297 km2 or 5,134 sq mi) and Gilgit-Baltistan (72,971 km2 or 28,174 sq mi) in this area value.[20] Further including Pakistani claims over the Indian-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir (42,241 km2 or 16,309 sq mi) and Ladakh (59,146 km2 or 22,836 sq mi) would produce a total land area figure of 984,010 km2 (379,928 sq mi), and a total area figure of 1,009,230 km2 (389,666 sq mi) for the country. Excluding all of these territories in the disputed Kashmir region (including Pakistani-administered territories) would produce a land area figure of 796,355 km2 (307,473 sq mi) and a total area figure of 821,575 km2 (317,212 sq mi). The total area figure is equal to Pakistan's land area added to its water area of 25,220 km2 (9,740 sq mi).
16. ^ Excludes claims in Antarctica.
17. ^ a b c d e f Figures shown in this entry are taken from the CIA.[1]
18. ^ Source gives area of metropolitan France as 551,500 km2 (212,900 sq mi) and lists overseas regions separately, whose areas sum to 89,179 km2 (34,432 sq mi). Adding these give the total shown here for the entire French Republic. The CIA reports the total as 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi).[1] Another source, the French Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies), gives an area figure of 632,759 km2 (244,310 sq mi).[22] (The CIA gives a water area of metropolitan France as 1,530 km2 (590 sq mi).)
19. ^ All figures are those cited by the Food and Agriculture Organization.[23]
20. ^ All figures are those cited by the International Atomic Energy Agency.[24]
21. ^ If the whole of Western Sahara is included (which Morocco controls approximately two-thirds of), the area would be 710,800 km2 (274,460 sq mi) and the rank would be #39.
22. ^ Figure shown is from the 2007 data and the CIA World Factbook.[1][13] The UN figure of 435,244 km2 (168,049 sq mi) excludes the three autonomous provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan.
23. ^ a b Figures shown are from the CIA World Factbook; the UN data refers to mainland area only. All figures exclude Bouvet Island (49 km2 or 19 sq mi), Jan Mayen (377 km2 or 146 sq mi), and Svalbard (62,045 km2 or 23,956 sq mi), shown separately, and the Antarctic territorial claims of Peter I Island (154 km2 or 59 sq mi) and Queen Maud Land (2,700,000 km2 or 1,000,000 sq mi).
24. ^ Figure shown is from the 2020 (Reiwa 2) Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.[25][26]
25. ^ Includes Åland (1,552 km2 or 599 sq mi).
26. ^ May or may not include the Galápagos Islands (7,880 km2 or 3,040 sq mi). The 2007 data,[13] as well as the current data given by the CIA, explicitly includes the Galápagos and gives the figure as 283,561 km2 (109,484 sq mi).[1]
27. ^ The total area figure is that reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Demography of Burkina Faso (INSD).[27] The water area is that reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization[28] and the land area is taken to be the difference between these two figures.
28. ^ The government gives the total figure as 266,838 square kilometres (103,027 sq mi).[29] CIA World Factbook has total/land area of 267,710 km2 (103,360 sq mi). All figures exclude the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, shown separately, as well as the Antarctic claim of Ross Dependency.
29. ^ Does not include the three Crown Dependencies (768 km2 or 297 sq mi) or the 14 overseas territories (1,742,857 km2 or 672,921 sq mi), each shown separately.
30. ^ Includes the parts of the Golan Heights (1,295 km2 or 500 sq mi) occupied by Israel.
31. ^ Somaliland is claimed in whole by Somalia, and has no international recognition
32. ^ Area according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is 147,570 km2 or 56,980 sq mi.[30]
33. ^ The Government of Nepal gives its area as 147,516 square kilometres (56,956 sq mi), which includes an additional 335 square kilometers of disputed territory under Indian administration.[31]
34. ^ Benin's official total area increased from 112,622 km2 (43,484 sq mi) to 114,763 km2 (44,310 sq mi) following the resolution of the Lete Island dispute in 2005.[32] The water area is that reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization[33] and the land area is the difference between these two figures, rounded to the nearest square kilometre.
35. ^ The figure shown includes the area of Kosovo and Metohija 10,887 km2 or 4,203 sq mi). The area of Serbia without Kosovo is 77,474 km2 (29,913 sq mi).[1]
36. ^ The figure shown includes the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (3,000 km2 or 1,200 sq mi), which is de facto independent from Azerbaijan.
37. ^ The figure shown includes the areas of Abkhazia (8,660 km2 or 3,340 sq mi)[35] and South Ossetia (3,900 km2 or 1,500 sq mi),[36] both de facto independent from Georgia.
38. ^ The UN gives a combined area for Svalbard and Jan Mayen as 62,422 km2 (24,101 sq mi). The separate figures shown are from the CIA World Factbook.[1]
39. ^ a b c d e f g Data for the Netherlands is from the Central Bureau of Statistics.[37] Source gives area of European Netherlands as 41,528 km2 (16,034 sq mi) and lists the three special municipalities separately, whose areas sum to 322 km2 (124 sq mi). Adding these gives the total shown here for the entire country of the Netherlands.[38] Adding the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the total area of the Kingdom of the Netherlands covers 42,508 km2 (16,412 sq mi).
40. ^ The figure from the UN demographic yearbook (41,277 km2 or 15,937 sq mi) excludes the areas of state forests and communanzas,[further explanation needed] which amount to 7.15 km2 (2.76 sq mi). The figure here is from the 2007 data.[13]
41. ^ The UN source does not include data for the Republic of China on Taiwan. The figure shown is from the 2012 Statistical Data from the Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China. The CIA gives a total area of 35,980 km2 (13,890 sq mi). The total constitutional land area of the Republic of China is 11,420,000 km2 (4,410,000 sq mi), which includes modern-day Taiwan, Mongolia, and Mainland China.[39]
42. ^ The figure shown includes the area of Transnistria (4,163 km2 or 1,607 sq mi), which is de facto independent from Moldova.
43. ^ Figures shown are from the CIA.[1] The UN/Israel Central Bureau of Statistics figure of 22,072 km2 (8,522 sq mi) includes the Golan Heights (1,200 km2 or 460 sq mi) and East Jerusalem (70 km2 or 27 sq mi), which are not internationally recognised as part of Israel.
44. ^ Northern Ireland is claimed in whole by the United Kingdom, and has limited international recognition.
45. ^ Kosovo is claimed in whole by Serbia, and has limited international recognition
46. ^ Includes the largely unrecognized but de facto independent Northern Cyprus (3,355 km2 or 1,295 sq mi), the UN buffer zone (346 km2 or 134 sq mi) and Akrotiri and Dhekelia (254 km2 or 98 sq mi).[1]
47. ^ Abkhazia is claimed in whole by Georgia, and has limited international recognition
48. ^ The UN source has no data for the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The figure given here is the total of all areas listed separately in the CIA World Factbook.[40]
49. ^ The CIA gives the areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip separately as 5,860 km2 (2,260 sq mi) and 360 km2 (140 sq mi) respectively (//www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/west-bank/; //www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gaza-strip/). The figure for the West Bank includes East Jerusalem and Jerusalem No Man's Land, but excludes Mount Scopus.[1]
50. ^ Transnistria is claimed in whole by Moldova, and has limited international recognition
51. ^ South Ossetia is claimed in whole by Georgia, and has limited international recognition
52. ^ Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is a self-declared state recognised only by Turkey.
53. ^ Figure shown is from the CIA World Factbook.[1] The UN figure of 1,969 km2 (760 sq mi) excludes the Agaléga Islands and Saint Brandon (Cargados Carajos).[13]
54. ^ The CIA World Factbook[1] and the UN give an area of 2,235 km2 (863 sq mi), which includes Mayotte (374 km2 (144 sq mi)), an overseas department and region of France.
55. ^ Åland Islands is an Autonomous region of Finland. As an Autonomous region of Finland, part of the European Union.
56. ^ There are some lakes and streams of unknown area.
57. ^ The figure shown is from the CIA World Factbook,[1] and refers to land area only. The UN figure excludes 84 km2 (32 sq mi) of uninhabited islands.
58. ^ The figure shown is from the CIA Factbook.[1] The UN value of 539 km2 (208 sq mi) refers to habitable area only and excludes the country's central forest reserve.
59. ^ The total area of Saint Helena is 122 square kilometres (47 sq mi), Ascension Island is 88 square kilometres (34 sq mi), and Tristan da Cunha is 98 square kilometres (38 sq mi).
60. ^ Niue, in free association with New Zealand, has limited international recognition
61. ^ The Cook Islands, in free association with New Zealand, has limited international recognition
62. ^ a b Data is from the 2007 statistics.[13]
63. ^ The UN gives no information for the British Indian Ocean Territory. The figure given here was taken from the CIA Factbook, and refers to land area only.[1]
64. ^ The figure shown is from the CIA Factbook, and includes Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Island.[1] The UN figure is 5 km2 or 1.9 sq mi, and only includes area for Pitcairn island itself, the only inhabited island in the group.
65. ^ Current statistics: March 2014 – Direcção dos Serviços de Cartografia e Cadastro (Cartography and Cadastre Bureau) Including University of Macau's New Hengqin Campus
66. ^ The De Agostini Atlas Calendar listed the area of Vatican City as 0.44 km2 in its 1930 edition[43] but corrected it to 0.49 km2 in its 1945–46 edition.[44] The figure of 0.44 km2 is still widely cited by many sources despite its inaccuracy.

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Field Listing – Area, The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed 26 December 2020.
2. ^ Central Intelligence Agency. "Definitions and notes: Location". The World Factbook. Government of the United States. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
3. ^ Source unless otherwise specified: Demographic Yearbook – Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area and density (PDF) (Report). United Nations Statistics Division. 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2022. Entries in this table giving figures other than the figures given in this source are explained in the associated Note.
4. ^ Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "Land and freshwater area, by province and territory". www.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
5. ^ Branch, Government of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Communications. "Oceans". www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
6. ^ "China". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
7. ^ a b c d e f "United States". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
8. ^ "China". CIA. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
9. ^ "United States". CIA. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
10. ^ "31 Years of CIA World Factbook". CIA. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
11. ^ "IBGE :: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística". ww2.ibge.gov.br.
12. ^ Geoscience Australia. "Area of Australia – States and Territories". Government of Australia. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
13. ^ a b c d e f g "Total surface area as of 19 January 2007". United Nations Statistics Division. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
14. ^ a b "Surface area (sq. km)". United Nations: World Development Indicators. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
15. ^ "Area and Population". Government of India. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007.
16. ^ Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan (ASRK). 2005. Main Demographic Indicators. Available at Stat.gov.kz
17. ^ Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: Country Report Algeria (PDF) (Report) (in French). FAO. p. 12. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
18. ^ "Indonesia". The World Factbook. CIA. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
19. ^ "Africa :: Sudan". CIA Factbook. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
20. ^ "GeoHive – Pakistan population statistics". Archived from the original on 6 April 2013.
21. ^ "South sudan" (PDF). CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
22. ^ Subdivisions, surface area and population of the French Republic, National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, accessed 11 March 2011.
23. ^ Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: Country Report Botswana (PDF) (Report). FAO. p. 14. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
24. ^ IAEA's support to animal health services in Yemen: Background (Report). IAEA. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
25. ^ "令和元年全国都道府県市区町村別面積調（１０月１日時点）2020年" (in Japanese). Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. 25 December 2020. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
26. ^ "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
27. ^ "Quelques chiffres clefs du Burkina Faso". Annuaire statistique 2013 (PDF) (Report) (in French). INSD. December 2014. p. 413. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
28. ^ Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: Country Report Burkina Faso (PDF) (Report) (in French). FAO. p. 28. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
29. ^ The New Zealand Land Cover Database, New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. Updated 1 July 2009.
30. ^ "Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics". Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
31. ^ "Government unveils new political map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura inside Nepal borders". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
32. ^ "La superficie du Bénin passe de 112.622 km2 à 113.440 km2" (in French). 15 August 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
33. ^ Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: Country Report Benin (PDF) (Report) (in French). FAO. p. 10. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
34. ^ "Geography of Ireland". Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
35. ^ Abkhazia at Encyclopædia Britannica
36. ^ South Ossetia at World English Dictionary
37. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics (2009), "Land – en tuinbouwcijfers, 2009" (PDF), Land- en Tuinbouwcijfers (in Dutch), Government of the Netherlands, Department of Publication and Information: 14, ISSN 1386-9566, retrieved 6 January 2018
38. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics (2009), Statistical Yearbook of the Netherlands Antilles, 2009, Willemstad: Government of the Netherlands, Department of Publication and Information, p. 4
39. ^ "1.1 Number of Villages, Neighborhoods, Households and Resident Population" (PDF). Ministry of the Interior – Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved 8 June 2012.
40. ^ French Southern and Antarctic Lands, CIA Factbook, as of 29 December 2010.
41. ^ Harrison Jones (13 February 2022). "Unrecognised passports and no McDonald's: What life is like in 'states that don't exist'". metro.co.uk.
42. ^ "Lands Department - Hong Kong Geographic Data". www.landsd.gov.hk.
43. ^ De Agostini Atlas Calendar, 1930, p. 99. (in Italian)
44. ^ De Agostini Atlas Calendar, 1945–46, p. 128. (in Italian)
45. ^ "The World Factbook". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2014.

External links

• Countries of the world ordered by land area

What country has the most land mass?

Does Russia have the largest land mass in the world?

What are the three biggest countries in the world?

Which is the third largest country in the world?