Dymaxion map of the world with the 30 largest countries and territories by area
This is a list of the world's countries and their dependencies, ranked by total area, including land and water.
This list includes entries that are not limited to those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which covers 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[a] 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.
^ The European Union is a unique supranational union. It covers a total area of 4,236,351 km2,[1] and would be ranked 7th if it were included (3.0% of world's total land area).
^The largest country in the world, which spans two continents, and most of northern Eurasia; with about 1/9th of the world's total landmass. Russia's European portion is roughly 4,000,000 km2, which is around 40% of the total landmass of Europe, making Russia the largest country in Europe; and its Asian portion, which covers all of Northern Asia, is around 13,100,000 km2, making Russia the largest country in Asia.
^Largest country completely in the Western Hemisphere by total area (second-largest by land area after the United States); with the largest surface area of water; largest contiguous country in North America. Total area and water area figures include area covered by freshwater only and do not include internal waters (non-freshwater) of about 1,600,000 km2, nor territorial waters of 200,000 km2.[5][6]
^The United Nations Statistics Division, the CIA World Factbook, and the Encyclopædia Britannica all rank the United States ahead of China in total area. However, the figures used by each source include coastal and territorial waters for the United States but exclude coastal and territorial waters for China. China's coastal and territorial water figures are unknown (no official publication) and thus cannot be added into China's total area figure. But Encyclopædia Britannica specifies the United States' area excluding coastal and territorial waters as 9,525,067 km2,[7] less than the figure given for China's area by any of the three sources. 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.
^Figures are from the U.S. Census and include "inland" water and "Great Lakes" water, but exclude coastal and territorial water.[8]NOAA cites the Great Lakes as an example of internal water,[9] but the federal government sometimes treats the Great Lakes as "high seas".[10]
^Data are from the CIA. Largest country in South America, and largest country in the Southern Hemisphere, even discounting its territory north of the equator.
^Second-largest French-speaking country. Largest country in Central and Sub-Saharan Africa. Second-largest country in Africa, has the largest French-speaking city (Kinshasa). Data are from the CIA.
^Comprising the total areas of Greenland, the Faroes and mainland Denmark. Data are from the CIA.
^Largest island in the world, largest territory in the Kingdom of Denmark, and the largest inhabited non-sovereign territory in the world. A total of 1,755,636 km2 (81%) of the land area is covered by ice; the ice-free area amounts to 410,450 km2. Data are from the CIA.
^Data from the CIA[1] has been supplemented with commonly-given figures for disputed areas administered by Pakistan: Azad Kashmir (13,297 km2)
[14] and Gilgit-Baltistan (72,971 km2),[15] assumed to be land.
^Data are from the CIA. Transcontinental country located in Asia and Europe.
^Figure is from the CIA[1] and South Sudan's official site.[16] The UN Statistics division gives a figure of 658,841, while the UN FAO gives a water area of 1,980 km2 and a land area of only 631,930 km2. Academic articles give varying totals between 619,000 km2[17] and 658,842 km2.[18]
^ Figure is from Yemen's Ministry of Water and Environment.[20] May not include territory ceded by Saudi Arabia in the Jeddah Treaty due to the Saudi–Yemen barrier. The CIA gives a much larger figure of 527,968 km2.
^Does not include the disputed Western Sahara, shown separately. If the whole of Western Sahara is included (which Morocco controls approximately two-thirds of), the area would be 710,800 km2 and the rank would be #39.
^Data are from the CIA. The UN figure of 435,052 km2 excludes the three autonomous provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan.
^The Government of Nepal gives its area as 147,516 km2, which includes an additional 335 square kilometers of disputed territory under Indian administration.[30]
^Data are from the CIA. The UN Statistics division gives an area of 94,552 km2 which may exclude parts of Lake Malawi considered integral by some definitions.
^Data are from the CIA. The UN FAO gives land and water figures of 121041 km2 and 589 km2, respectively.
^Data are from the CIA. Largest country in the Balkans by continental area within the Balkans.
^Figures are official and include Serbia's claim on Kosovo. The 2023 Statistical Yearbook describes its figure as "provisional" and "land area".[31] The UN FAO estimates some 900 km2 of water area. The CIA gives separate figures for Serbia (77,474 km2) and Kosovo (10,877 km2).[1]
^Largest country in the Caucasus. Transcontinental country located in Asia and Europe.
^Total figure is official sum of provinces, land area is official[32] and water area is implied, excluding some of the reported 27,625 km2 of "territorial water". The UN replicates the land-only figure while the CIA reports 83,600 km2 of land and no water.[1]
^Excludes claim on Adélie Land in Antarctica. Data are from the CIA.
^The CIA gives the areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip separately as 5,860 km2 and 360 km2 respectively. The figure for the West Bank includes East Jerusalem and Jerusalem No Man's Land, but excludes Mount Scopus.[1] The UN source differs by 200 km2 and may exclude the area of the Dead Sea pertaining to the West Bank.
^South Ossetia is claimed in whole by Georgia.[39]
^Academic articles most frequently give the figure shown,[40] while an official brochure gives 3,248 km2.[41] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is a self-declared state recognised only by Turkey.
^Data are from the CIA. The UN figure of 1,969 km2 excludes the Agaléga Islands and Saint Brandon (Cargados Carajos).
^UN figures are given, including only land and internal water. Official figures include "sea area" of 1640 km2.[43]
^Data are from the CIA. The UN figure of 726 km2 excludes 84 km2 of uninhabited islands.
^The CIA gives a figure of 760 km2 and no water,[1] the UN Statistics division has 778 km2, the UN FAO has 790 km2 and no water, while Bahrain's official figure is 786.5 km2 excluding territorial water.[44]
^The figure shown is from the CIA Factbook, and includes Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Island.[1] The UN figure is 5 km2, and only includes area for Pitcairn island itself, the only inhabited island in the group.
^European microstate. Smallest country in the world. The De Agostini Atlas Calendar listed the area of Vatican City as 0.44 km2 in its 1930 edition[57] but corrected it to 0.49 km2 in its 1945–46 edition.[58] The figure of 0.44 km2 is still widely cited by many sources despite its inaccuracy.
^Central Intelligence Agency. "Definitions and notes: Area". The World Factbook. Government of the United States. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
^Under "World Summary", see Table 3 and select 'pdf' or 'xls'."Demographic Yearbook – 2022". unstats.un.org. 2023. Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
^"FAOSTAT". fao.org. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
^"Examples of internal waters include rivers, canals, and lakes, including The Great Lakes." "Maritime Zones and Boundaries". noaa.gov. 15 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
^"a number of U.S. federal court decisions have treated the Great Lakes as “high seas” for purposes of federal admiralty and maritime jurisdiction as well as for federal criminal jurisdiction." "The Great Lakes". noaa.gov. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
