The Largest and Smallest Countries and Your Map
Updated November 10, 2026
Russia is the largest country, with about 17.1 million km², or 11.4% of the world's land. Vatican City is the smallest, at less than half a square kilometre. Eleven countries together hold half of all land, which is why one or two large countries can colour most of a travel map.
The ten largest
Shares are of the world's total land area including Antarctica, the same total this site uses for its land percentage.
| Country | Area (million km²) | Share of land | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | 17.10 | 11.4% | 11.4% |
| Canada | 9.98 | 6.7% | 18.0% |
| China | 9.71 | 6.5% | 24.5% |
| United States | 9.37 | 6.2% | 30.8% |
| Brazil | 8.52 | 5.7% | 36.4% |
| Australia | 7.69 | 5.1% | 41.6% |
| India | 3.29 | 2.2% | 43.7% |
| Argentina | 2.78 | 1.9% | 45.6% |
| Kazakhstan | 2.72 | 1.8% | 47.4% |
| Algeria | 2.38 | 1.6% | 49.0% |
Add the Democratic Republic of the Congo in eleventh place and the running total passes 50%. Figures for the United States and China differ between sources by a few percent, depending on whether coastal waters and disputed areas are included; the ranking of those two is sometimes given the other way round.
The smallest
| Country | Area (km²) | For comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Vatican City | 0.44 | About 60 football pitches |
| Monaco | 2 | Smaller than many city parks |
| Nauru | 21 | You can walk around it in a day |
| Tuvalu | 26 | Nine low coral islands |
| San Marino | 61 | A small town and its hills |
| Liechtenstein | 160 | About the size of a mid-sized city |
Vatican City is a UN observer state, not a member. Among the 193 members, Monaco is the smallest.
What this does to a visited-countries map
- A single trip to Russia colours more land than visiting every other country in Europe: Europe's remaining UN members together cover 3.9% of the world's land.
- Twenty-seven UN members are smaller than 2,600 km² and cannot be clicked at world scale. On this map each has a dot, and all of them are in the country list.
- The country count and the land share reward different travel. Island-hopping in the Caribbean adds countries quickly and almost no land. Crossing Canada adds one country and 6.7% of the world.
- Antarctica is 14 million km², more than Europe, and counts toward land share only if you mark it.
Area is not the same as ground covered
Marking a country counts all of it. A weekend in Moscow and a three-month journey to Vladivostok colour the same shape. That is a limit of every country-level map, not only this one. If you want the map to show how much of a large country you have seen, add trips with stops: the pins and route lines show where you were, while the country fill shows only that you crossed the border.
Using both numbers
Quote the country count when someone asks how many countries you have been to, and say which total you count against. Use the land share as a description of the picture: it explains why a map with eight countries can look fuller than a map with thirty. The Statistics tab shows both side by side, together with a bar for each continent.
Try it on your own map
Questions and answers
- Which country is bigger, China or the United States?
- It depends on what is measured. By land area alone China is larger. Totals that include coastal and territorial waters put the United States slightly ahead. This site uses 9.71 million km² for China and 9.37 million km² for the United States.
- How many countries make up half of the world's land?
- Eleven: Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Brazil, Australia, India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo together cover just over 50%.
- Why can I not click Singapore or Malta on the map?
- At world scale they are smaller than a fingertip. Each small country has a dot on the map that you can click, and you can always tick it in the country list after typing its name in Find a country.