Largest Countries by Area

Pick the larger country every round.

Order the world's countries by land area — the top of the table, where six countries hold a striking share of all the land on Earth.

The top of the list

Russia is first by a very large margin, roughly comparable in area to the next two combined. Canada, China, the United States, Brazil and Australia follow, and those six together cover a substantial share of the world's total land area.

Below them come India, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Algeria, which is where most people's certainty starts to fade.

What people get wrong

Algeria is the largest country in Africa, not Sudan, Egypt or the DR Congo. It took the title after South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011, and many mental maps have not updated.

Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world and larger than all of Western Europe put together. It is consistently underestimated because it rarely features in anything.

Argentina is much larger than Mexico, which surprises people who picture South America as smaller than it is.

Greenland is not a sovereign country — it is an autonomous territory of Denmark — which is why it does not appear in country rankings despite its size on a map.

Area versus population

The two rankings barely relate. Canada is second in the world by area and nowhere near the top by population. Australia is sixth by area with a population smaller than many individual countries far below it on the list.

That disconnect is the genuinely useful thing here: size on a map tells you very little about how many people live there, and internalising that changes how you read every map you see afterwards.

The other end

Smallest Countries covers the opposite extreme, where Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu and San Marino sit — several of which are smaller than a single large city. Greenland, larger than all but a dozen countries, tops the Largest Islands in the World Quiz. The biggest cities do not follow the biggest countries: see the Biggest Cities in the World Quiz, where Indonesia, Bangladesh and Japan hold the top three.

Frequently asked questions

What are the largest countries in the world by area?

Russia is first by a wide margin, followed by Canada, China, the United States, Brazil and Australia. Those six together account for a substantial share of all land on Earth.

Is Algeria bigger than Sudan?

Yes. Algeria became the largest country in Africa after South Sudan gained independence in 2011 and split the former Sudan in two. It is one of the most commonly missed facts in area quizzes.

Why is Greenland not in the list of largest countries?

Because it is not a sovereign country. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, so it is excluded from country rankings — though on a Mercator map it looks larger than most of the countries that are listed.

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