From the Kaliningrad enclave in the west to the Dioma Islands in the Bering Strait in the east. Measured by surface content, Russia is gigantic and by far the largest country in the world. The European part of the country is Europe’s largest country, while the Asian part is Asia’s largest country.
On the lists of most populous countries, it is more evenly at the top. There is a long gap down from China and India, both approaching 1.5 billion residents down to the US with just over 0.3 billion residents in third place.
The World’s 10 Largest Countries by Area
The following ten largest countries make up almost half of all the land area of the globe.
- Russia – 17 098 242 km²
- Canada – 9 984 670 km²
- USA – 9 833 517 km²
- China – 9 596 960 km²
- Brazil – 8 515 770 km²
- Australia – 7 741 220 km²
- India – 3 287 263 km²
- Argentina – 2 780 400 km²
- Kazakhstan – 2 724 900 km²
- Algeria – 2 381 740 km²
Spring meltdown on Lake Baikal in Siberia. The world’s deepest lake. Russia has a huge surface content. It is e.g. 52 times the size of Norway (323,802 km²), and 7 times the size of country number 10 in the list: Algeria (2,381,740 km²).
Largest Countries in Each Continent:
North America’s largest country:
- Canada – 9 984 670 km².
- (Marginally larger than its neighbor in southern, U.S.A. The two countries rank second and third, respectively, on the list of the world’s largest countries.)
South America’s largest country:
- Brazil – 8 515 770 km²
- (South America’s largest country is the fifth largest in the world by area content, and the sixth largest in population. Large parts of the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon rainforest, are within the country’s borders.)
Europe’s largest country:
- Russia – European part approx. 3 960 000 km² (17 098 242 km²).
- (Although the European part of Russia is a relatively small part of the country’s total area, it still holds in large measure to be Europe’s largest.)
Asia’s largest country:
- Russia – Asian part approx. 13 138 242 km² (17 098 242 km²)
Africa’s largest country:
- Algeria – 2 381 740 km²
- (The Sahara desert makes up much of the country’s area.)
The Sahara desert at the border with Algeria. The desert forms the southern part of the country, while most of the country’s residents live on the coast in the northern part.
Oceania’s largest country:
- Australia – 7 741 220 km²
- (Australia’s area makes up most of Oceania’s 8,525,989 km², the world’s smallest continent by area.)
Shanghai is one of biggest cities in China which is still the most populous country in the world, but India is not far behind. Only in the city center of Shanghai alone, there are twice as many residents as in the whole of Norway. At year-end, there lived approx. 268 times as many people in China (1.4 billion) as in Norway (5 million).
The World’s 10 Most Populous Countries:
Below you can find the world top 10 largest countries by population:
- China – 1 439 323 776
- India – 1 380 004 385
- USA – 331 002 651
- Indonesia – 273 523 615
- Pakistan – 220 892 340
- Brazil – 212 559 417
- Nigeria – 206 139 589
- Bangladesh- 164 689 383
- Russia – 145 934 462
- Mexico – 128 932 753