What Are the World's Biggest Countries?
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According to the CIA World Factbook, the total surface area of the earth is 510,072,000 square kilometers (196,939,900 square miles). Of this, 70.8% is water and 29.2% is land. The chart below organizes the top 25 countries (including Antarctica) in terms of size, starting with the biggest, Russia. Note that the sizes depict total area which includes the land and water within each country's borders.
| country | sq. km | sq. miles | size |
| Russia | 17,075,200 | 6,592,772 |  |
| Antarctica | 14,000,000 | 5,405,430 | |
| Canada | 9,976,140 | 3,851,809 | |
| United States | 9,629,091 | 3,717,813 | |
| China | 9,596,960 | 3,705,407 | |
| Brazil | 8,511,965 | 3,286,488 | |
| Australia | 7,686,850 | 2,967,909 | |
| India | 3,287,590 | 1,269,346 | |
| Argentina | 2,766,890 | 1,068,302 | |
| Kazakhstan | 2,717,300 | 1,049,155 | |
| Sudan | 2,505,810 | 967,499 | |
| Algeria | 2,381,740 | 919,595 | |
| D.R. Congo | 2,345,410 | 905,568 | |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 | 836,330 | |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,960,582 | 761,606 | |
| Mexico | 1,972,550 | 756,985 | |
| Indonesia | 1,919,440 | 741,100 | |
| Libya | 1,759,540 | 679,362 | |
| Iran | 1,648,000 | 636,296 | |
| Mongolia | 1,565,000 | 604,250 | |
| Peru | 1,285,220 | 496,226 | |
| Chad | 1,284,000 | 495,755 | |
| Niger | 1,267,000 | 489,191 | |
| Angola | 1,246,700 | 481,354 | |
| Mali | 1,240,000 | 478,767 | |
| country | sq. km | sq. miles | size |
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11
how is greenland not bigger than D.R Congo?
that makes no sense.
- anon44279
10
Well let's settle this arguement Gentlemen! If Russia is in Europe and it has it's own borders then it is the biggest country! - anon40006
9
Why is nigeria not listed in this article, among the biggest nations? - anon38446
7
"Posted by: evchef
Actually, since Greenland (Grøndland) is part of Denmark, it is therefore a part of Europe (Europa) and Scandanavia (Scandinavien). That should make Denmark the biggest country in Europe."
that is not accurate, since Russia is the largest one in Europe. Despite the fact that the biggest part of it's territory is situated in Asia, its capital - Moscow is in Europe and therefore it's counted as european Country. If you compare only pure european territory, again Denmark is not the biggest, because Greenland (physiographically) is associated with North America, and again Ukraine is the biggest. I am writing this because I had a similar dispute with a colleague of mine... - anon9431
6
Actually, since Greenland (Grøndland) is part of Denmark, it is therefore a part of Europe (Europa) and Scandanavia (Scandinavien). That should make Denmark the biggest country in Europe.
- evchef
4
The thing about Russia is that in this article it states that Michail Gorbachev was the General Secretary, but that was only at the beginning. Then he became a first and only president of USSR. - anon3438
2
According to my cursory research, the three largest countries in Europe (since the split up of the USSR) are the Ukraine, followed by France and Spain. I was surprised... - Dayton
1
what are the three biggest countries in europe?
- anon577
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Source: CIA World Factbook 2002
Last Modified: 06 November 2009
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