The biggest countries in the world

Which are the biggest countries in the world by area?

Russia is the biggest country in the world by area, with 17,098,246 km². That is 12.8% of the land of all 196 countries in the world.

Russia is almost as large as the whole of South America (17.10 million km² against 17.74 million km² for its 12 countries). Canada is second and the United States third, but the order depends on what you count. Canada has 891,163 km² of lakes and rivers, more than any other country, so by land alone the United States and China are both larger than Canada. We count total area, the same rule the UN uses.

The six biggest countries hold 47 percent of all the land in the 196 countries. India, which most people picture as a huge country, is seventh, and it is smaller than Australia. After India the list drops fast: Argentina at number eight has less than a fifth of Russia's area.

Which are the biggest countries in the world by population?

India has the most people in the world: 1.46 billion in the UN's 2025 estimate, or 17.8% of the 8.20 billion people who live in these 196 countries.

India passed China in 2023, according to the UN, and the gap is now 57 million. Between them the two countries hold 35 percent of all people on Earth. The United States, in third place, has less than a quarter of India's population.

Nigeria at number six is the most populous country in Africa and the only African country in the top eight. Bangladesh at number eight fits 176 million people into 148,460 km², an area 115 times smaller than Russia, which has fewer people. Russia, first by area, is only ninth here, and Canada, second by area, is 38th. Japan is twelfth and its population has been falling since 2008.

Which are the biggest countries in the world by GDP?

United States has the biggest economy in the world. The IMF projects its GDP at $32.38 trillion for 2026, which is 25.7% of the total for all countries.

The United States and China together make up 42 percent of world GDP. The top 20 economies make up 80 percent, which leaves less than a fifth for the other 176 countries.

Germany has been third since 2023, when it passed Japan. India, at $4.15 trillion, is within 3 percent of the United Kingdom and within 6 percent of Japan, so the order of places four to six can change with the next IMF update. These are figures in current US dollars at market exchange rates. Measured at purchasing power parity, which adjusts for local prices, the IMF has ranked China first since the late 2010s, and India third.

How does the ranking change with the measure?

The top five under each measure, side by side:

Only the United States and China appear in all three columns. Russia is first by area, ninth by population and ninth by GDP. Canada and Australia are in the top six by area and outside the top 35 by population. India is first by population and seventh by area. The full picture for eight countries:

How do we count?

"Country" here means the 196 countries on Perspective Map: every UN member state except Vatican City, plus Taiwan, Kosovo and Palestine. Territories are not counted, so Greenland (2.17 million km², a territory of Denmark) is not on the area list even though it would be twelfth, and Antarctica, which belongs to no country, is not counted either.

Area is total area including lakes and rivers, from the UN Statistics Division and the CIA World Factbook. Population is the UN World Population Prospects estimate for 2025, taken from the World Bank. GDP is the IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026) projection for 2026, in current US dollars. We use the same figures on the map, so the boxes there and the tables here agree. More on the data.