Top 10 Largest Countries In The World: The world’s countries are different in terms of language, wealth, culture, and size. The tiniest countries are only a handful of square miles in size.

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. Coastal internal waters may be included. Territorial seas are not included unless otherwise noted. Contiguous zones and exclusive economic zones are not included.

Here are the world’s biggest countries, ranked in order of total area, land area, and water area.

RUSSIA

Russia

Russia is the world’s largest country (10.995 percent of the total landmass); its European portion is roughly 4,000,000 km2, which is around 40% of Europe’s total landmass, making Russia the largest country in Europe; and its Asian portion, which covers all of Northern Asia, is roughly 13,100,000 km2, making Russia the largest country in Asia.

Extending from Eastern Europe to Northern Asia it is the world’s biggest country and contains one-eighth of the Earth’s habitable continent. Russia spans eleven time zones and shares boundaries with sixteen sovereign states, the most of any country on the planet.

With a population of 145.5 million, it is the ninth-most populated nation in the world and the most populous country in Europe. The capital, Moscow, is Europe’s biggest metropolis, while Saint Petersburg is the country’s second-largest city and cultural center.

Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is the planet’s most southern continent. The continent, which is home to the geographic South Pole, is located nearly completely south of the Antarctic Circle and is encircled by the Southern Ocean. It is the fifth-largest continent, at 14,200,000 square kilometers, and is nearly twice the size of Australia.

During the summer, 5,000 people live in research stations, but this number lowers to roughly 1,000 in the winter. The majority of Antarctica is covered by ice, which has an average thickness of 1.9 kilometers.

Antarctica has the highest average elevation and is the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents. It is mostly a polar desert, with annual precipitation averaging 200 mm at the shore and much less inland.

Approximately 70% of the world’s freshwater supplies are frozen there, enough to increase global sea levels by approximately 60 meters if it all thawed.

Antarctica has the record for the coldest temperature on Earth, which was measured at 89.2 degrees Celsius (128.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The average temperature during the third quarter is 63 °C (81 °F). Mites, nematodes, penguins, seals, and tardigrades are among the native animal species.

CANADA

Canada

Canada is a North American nation. Its 10 provinces and three territories stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, encompassing 9.98 million square kilometers and making it the world’s second-largest country in terms of the overall area.

Its southern and western border with the United States is the world’s longest bi-national land border, lasting 8,891 kilometers. The capital of Canada is Ottawa, and its three most populous cities are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Total land and water area numbers include only freshwater areas and do not include internal (non-freshwater) waterways of about 1,600,000 square kilometers of territorial waters of 200,000 square kilometers.

CHINA

China

The biggest country fully in Asia, and the world’s second-largest by land area. Excludes Taiwan, contested regions with India, and disputed South China Sea islands. Total land and water area figures do not include all coastal and territorial waters. China, officially known as the People’s Republic of China, is an East Asian country. With a population of over 1.4 billion people, it is the world’s most populated country.

China covers five time zones and borders 14 nations, the second most of any country in the world behind Russia. It is the world’s third or fourth biggest country, with a size of around 9.6 million square kilometers.

There are 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions in the nation (Hong Kong and Macau). Beijing is the country’s capital.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

USA

The biggest English-speaking country and the largest country in the Western Hemisphere in terms of the land area although second-largest by total area after Canada. Secondary total area and water area estimates include coastline and territorial waters.

It is the world’s third most populated country, with a population of about 331 million people. Washington, D.C. is the nation’s capital, while New York Metropolis is the most populated city and financial hub.

The US is a federal presidential-constitutional republic with three distinct departments of government, including a bicameral legislature. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, NATO, and several other international organizations.

It is a member of the United Nations Security Council on an indefinite basis. Its population has been deeply impacted by centuries of immigration, and it is regarded as a melting pot of cultures and races. The United States ranks highly on worldwide indices of economic freedom, quality of life, education, and human rights; it also has a low degree of perceived corruption.

However, it has been chastised for racial, wealth, and financial inequalities; the usage of the death penalty; high imprisonment rates; and the lack of universal health care.

BRAZIL

Brazil

The biggest Portuguese-speaking country, the largest country in South America, the largest country in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Americas’ largest contiguous territory.

Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country by area and sixth-most populated, with over 211 million inhabitants. Brasilia is the capital, while So Paulo is its most populated city.

The merger of the 26 states and the Federal District constitutes the federation. It is the world’s biggest country with Portuguese as an official language, as well as the only one in the Americas.

Due to nearly a century of huge immigration from all over the world, it is also one of the most cosmopolitan and ethnically varied nations, as well as the most populated Roman Catholic-majority country.

AUSTRALIA 

Australia

Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world’s sixth-largest country, with a land area of 7,617,930 square kilometers. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent on the planet, with the least productive soils.

It is a megadiverse country with a diverse range of terrain and climates, including deserts in the center, tropical rainforests in the northeast, and mountain ranges in the southeast.

Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy made up of six states and 10 territories. The population of almost 26 million people in Australia is highly urbanized and heavily concentrated on the eastern shore.

The nation’s capital is Canberra, and the main cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. Australia’s demographics have been affected by centuries of immigration, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population, the largest proportion among major Western nations.

Australia’s enormous natural resources and well-developed international trade links are critical to the country’s economy, which earns money from a variety of sectors, including services, mining exports, finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and international education.

INDIA

India

India, formally the Republic of India, is a South Asian country. It is the world’s seventh-largest country in terms of land area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy. It is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean, on the southwest by the Arabian Sea, and on the southeast by the Bay of Bengal.

It shares land boundaries with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. India sits near Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, and it’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

Since 1950, India has been a federated republic administered by a democratic parliamentary government. It is a multicultural, multilingual, and multiethnic society. The population of India increased from 361 million in 1951 to 1.211 billion in 2011. At the same period, its nominal per capita income climbed from US$64 to US$1,498 per year, and its literacy rate improved from 16.6 percent to 74 percent.

From a very impoverished country in 1951, India has evolved into a rapidly rising major economy and a center for information technology services, with an expanding middle class.

It has a space program that includes multiple extraterrestrial missions that are either planned or accomplished. Indian films, music, and spiritual teachings are becoming increasingly important in worldwide society.

ARGENTINA

Argentina

Argentina is the world’s biggest Spanish-speaking country by area, with a land area of 2,780,400 km2. It is the second-largest nation in South America after Brazil, the fourth-largest country in the Americas, and the world’s eighth-largest country.

It shares the majority of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west and is additionally bounded to the north by Bolivia and Paraguay, to the northeast by Brazil, to the east by Uruguay, and the South Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Drake Passage.

Argentina is a federal-state split into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which serves as the federal capital and largest metropolis in the country.

Argentina is a regional power with a long history of serving as a medium power in international affairs. Argentina is a developing country that ranks 46th in the Human Development Index, second only to Chile in Latin America.

It maintains South America’s second-largest economy and is a member of the G-15 and G20. Argentina is also a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization, Mercosur, Latin American and Caribbean Community, and Organization of Ibero-American States.

KAZAKHSTAN

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan is mostly a Central Asian country. It is bounded to the north and west by Russia, to the east by China, and to the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Nur-Sultan, previously Astana, is the capital. Until 1997, Kazakhstan’s capital was Almaty, the country’s biggest city.

Kazakhstan is the world’s biggest landlocked country, the largest Muslim-majority country by geographical area (and the northernmost), and the world’s ninth-largest country. It boasts a population of 19 million people and one of the world’s lowest population densities, with fewer than 6 people per square kilometer.

Kazakhstan is the economic and political powerhouse of Central Asia, accounting for 60% of the region’s GDP, mostly through its oil and gas industry. It also boasts a wealth of mineral resources. It is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional nation with a rich cultural past.

Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, OTS, and TURKSOY.

ALGERIA

Algeria

Algeria, officially the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a nation in North Africa’s Maghreb area. The nation is the largest in Africa and the Arab world by total area, and it is bounded to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara, to the west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.

It has a semi-arid climate, with the majority of the people residing in the fertile north and the Sahara dominating the southern landscape. Algeria is the world’s tenth biggest country by area, with a land area of 2,381,741 square kilometers.

Algeria is the ninth-most populated country in Africa and the 32nd-most populous country in the world, with a population of 44 million people. Algiers, the country’s capital and largest city, is located in the far north on the Mediterranean coast.

Algeria is a semi-presidential republic with 58 provinces and 1,541 communes as local constituencies. Algeria is a regional power in North Africa and a worldwide middle power. It boasts the highest Human Development Index of any non-island African country and one of the continent’s largest economies, based primarily on petroleum exports. Algeria has the world’s sixteenth-largest oil reserves and ninth-largest natural gas reserves.