Earth, the most important place you know, has a surface area of 510,072,000 km². Compared Earth is about the size of an average sunspot. Compared to other planets, our world is about twice the size of Mars, and it is slightly larger than Venus. The total land coverage is 29.2% of Earth’s surface (149 million km²), the rest of its surface area of 70.8% is water.
What are the largest countries in the world?
The largest countries in the world are not necessarily the world’s most populated countries as well. Although they have larger landmasses, extremes of climate and terrain in countries like Russia and Canada limit human habitation over larger parts of their territory. The three most populous countries in the world, China, US and India ranked fourth, third, and seventh.
Total Area = land area + water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, and rivers)
Key points:
- The largest country in the world is Russia with a total area of 17,098,242 Km² (6,601,665 mi²) and a land area of 16,376,870 Km² (6,323,142 mi²), equivalent to 11% of the total world’s landmass of 148,940,000 Km² (57,510,000 square miles).
- The three smallest countries in the world are Vatican City, an enclave within Rome, Italy. Monaco, a principality at the Mediterranean coast and an enclave within Southern France, and Nauru, an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
Top 7 Largest Countries in the World (by total area km²):
| Rank | Country | Area | % of Earth Area |
| 1 | Russia | 17,098,242 km² | 11.52% |
| 2 | Canada | 9,984,670 km² | 6.73% |
| 3 | China | 9,706,961 km² | 6.54% |
| 4 | United States | 9,372,610 km² | 6.31% |
| 5 | Brazil | 8,515,767 km² | 5.74% |
| 6 | Australia | 7,692,024 km² | 5.18% |
| 7 | India | 3,287,590 km² | 2.21% |
Here is a detail of the Top 7 Largest Countries on Earth by area:
