Top 25 Largest Countries in the World by Area (2023)

When we think of the world’s geography, the largest countries by land area stand out not just for their sheer size but for their influence on global economics, politics, and environment. As of 2024, these are the top 25 largest countries by land area.

Insights

• Russia remains the largest country globally, spanning over 17 million sq. km.
• Canada and the USA complete the top 3, both exceeding 9 million sq. km.
• Africa has significant representation with Algeria, DR Congo, Sudan, and others in the top 25.

Understanding these land sizes is crucial for studies in resource distribution, biodiversity, and geopolitics.

Country Ranking by Area (2023)

Rank	Area	Land area (sq. km)
1	Russian Federation	17,125,190
2	Canada	15,634,410
3	United States of America	9,831,510
4	China	9,600,013
5	China, mainland	9,562,910
6	Brazil	8,510,420
7	Australia	7,741,220
8	India	3,287,260
9	Argentina	2,780,400
10	Kazakhstan	2,724,902
11	Algeria	2,381,740
12	Democratic Republic of the Congo	2,344,860
13	Saudi Arabia	2,149,690
14	Mexico	1,957,194
15	Indonesia	1,916,907
16	Sudan	1,878,000
17	Libya	1,759,540
18	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	1,745,150
19	Mongolia	1,564,116
20	Peru	1,285,216
21	Chad	1,284,000
22	Niger	1,267,000
23	Angola	1,246,700
24	Mali	1,240,190
25	South Africa	1,219,090
26	Colombia	1,140,619
27	Ethiopia	1,136,240
28	Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	1,098,580
29	Mauritania	1,030,700
30	Egypt	1,001,450
31	United Republic of Tanzania	947,300
32	Nigeria	923,770
33	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	912,050
34	Namibia	824,290
35	Mozambique	799,380
36	Pakistan	796,100
37	Türkiye	785,350
38	Chile	757,245
39	Zambia	752,610
40	Myanmar	676,590
41	Afghanistan	652,870
42	South Sudan	646,883
43	Somalia	637,660
44	Norway	624,500
45	Central African Republic	622,980
46	France	606,410
47	Ukraine	603,550
48	Kenya	591,969
49	Madagascar	587,295
50	Botswana	581,730
51	Sweden	528,660
52	Yemen	527,970
53	Thailand	513,115
54	Spain	505,976
55	Turkmenistan	491,209
56	Cameroon	475,440
57	Papua New Guinea	462,840
58	Uzbekistan	448,920
59	Morocco	446,550
60	Iraq	435,050
61	Greenland	410,450
62	Paraguay	406,752
63	Zimbabwe	390,760
64	Japan	377,969
65	Germany	357,680
66	Congo	342,000
67	Finland	338,480
68	Viet Nam	331,338
69	Malaysia	330,411
70	Côte d’Ivoire	322,460
71	Poland	313,930
72	Oman	309,500
73	Italy	302,070
74	Philippines	300,000
75	Burkina Faso	274,200
76	New Zealand	267,710
77	Gabon	267,670
78	Western Sahara	266,000
79	Ecuador	256,370
80	Guinea	245,860
81	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	243,610
82	Uganda	241,550
83	Ghana	238,539
84	Romania	238,400
85	Lao People’s Democratic Republic	236,800
86	Guyana	214,970
87	Belarus	207,629
88	Kyrgyzstan	199,950
89	Senegal	196,710
90	Syrian Arab Republic	185,180
91	Cambodia	181,040
92	Uruguay	176,220
93	Suriname	163,820
94	Tunisia	163,610
95	Bangladesh	147,570
96	Nepal	147,180
97	Dominican Republic	146,839
98	Tajikistan	141,379
99	Greece	131,960
100	Nicaragua	130,370
101	Eritrea	121,766
102	Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	120,540
103	Malawi	118,480
104	Benin	114,760
105	Honduras	112,490
106	Liberia	111,370
107	Bulgaria	110,997
108	Cuba	109,880
109	Guatemala	108,890
110	Iceland	103,000
111	Republic of Korea	100,450
112	United Arab Emirates	98,648
113	Hungary	93,030
114	Portugal	92,230
115	Jordan	89,318
116	Croatia	88,070
117	Azerbaijan	86,600
118	Serbia	84,990
119	Austria	83,879
120	French Guiana	83,600
121	Czechia	78,871
122	Panama	75,320
123	Sierra Leone	72,300
124	Ireland	70,280
125	Georgia	69,700
126	Sri Lanka	65,610
127	Lithuania	65,290
128	Latvia	64,590
129	Togo	56,790
130	Bosnia and Herzegovina	51,210
131	Costa Rica	51,100
132	Slovakia	49,030
133	Estonia	45,340
134	Denmark	42,920
135	Netherlands (Kingdom of the)	41,540
136	Switzerland	41,291
137	Bhutan	38,390
138	Guinea-Bissau	36,130
139	China, Taiwan Province of	35,960
140	Republic of Moldova	33,850
141	Belgium	30,689
142	Lesotho	30,360
143	Armenia	29,740
144	Solomon Islands	28,900
145	Albania	28,750
146	Equatorial Guinea	28,050
147	Burundi	27,830
148	Haiti	27,750
149	Rwanda	26,338
150	North Macedonia	25,710
151	Djibouti	23,200
152	Belize	22,966
153	Israel	22,070
154	El Salvador	21,040
155	Slovenia	20,480
156	New Caledonia	18,580
157	Fiji	18,270
158	Kuwait	17,820
159	Eswatini	17,360
160	Timor-Leste	14,870
161	Montenegro	13,888
162	Bahamas	13,880
163	Faroe Islands	12,960
164	Vanuatu	12,190
165	Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	12,170
166	Qatar	11,490
167	Gambia	11,300
168	Jamaica	10,990
169	Lebanon	10,450
170	Cyprus	9,250
171	Puerto Rico	8,870
172	Palestine	6,025
173	Brunei Darussalam	5,770
174	Trinidad and Tobago	5,130
175	Bermuda	4,290
176	Cabo Verde	4,030
177	French Polynesia	3,471
178	Samoa	2,840
179	Luxembourg	2,590
180	Réunion	2,520
181	Mauritius	2,010
182	Comoros	1,861
183	Guadeloupe	1,634
184	China, Hong Kong SAR	1,110
185	Martinique	1,087
186	Sao Tome and Principe	960
187	Turks and Caicos Islands	950
188	Kiribati	810
189	Bahrain	800
190	Dominica	750
191	Tonga	750
192	Singapore	728
193	Micronesia (Federated States of)	700
194	Saint Lucia	620
195	Isle of Man	570
196	Guam	540
197	Andorra	470
198	Northern Mariana Islands	460
199	Palau	460
200	Seychelles	460
201	Curaçao	444
202	Antigua and Barbuda	440
203	Barbados	430
204	Ascension, Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha	390
205	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	390
206	Mayotte	366
207	United States Virgin Islands	350
208	Grenada	340
209	Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba	322
210	Malta	320
211	Maldives	300
212	Cayman Islands	264
213	Niue	260
214	Saint Kitts and Nevis	260
215	Cook Islands	240
216	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	240
217	American Samoa	200
218	Channel Islands	198
219	Aruba	180
220	Marshall Islands	180
221	Liechtenstein	160
222	British Virgin Islands	150
223	Wallis and Futuna Islands	142
224	Montserrat	100
225	Anguilla	90
226	Monaco	75
227	San Marino	60
228	Saint Martin (French part)	50
229	Pitcairn	47
230	Norfolk Island	40
231	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	34
232	China, Macao SAR	33
233	Tuvalu	30
234	Nauru	20
235	Saint Barthélemy	20
236	Gibraltar	10
237	Tokelau	10
238	Holy See	0

FAQ

Which country is the largest by land area?
Russia is the largest, covering over 17 million sq. km, making up nearly 11% of the world’s landmass.

Which is the largest country in Africa by land area?
Algeria is the largest African country by land area, with over 2.3 million sq. km.

Does a larger land area mean a larger population?
Not always. For example, Russia is the largest by area but not the most populous. Countries like India and China, though smaller in area, have far larger populations.

Source:

United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2023