Have you ever wondered about which countries were the largest in the world? Well this article will tell you, plus give you a fun fact or two about each country.
#1: Russia
Russia is by far the biggest country in the world. Russia makes up about 11.5% of the land in the world, and is 6,601,668 square miles. Russia ranks ninth in the world in population, with around 142 million people, and covers nine time zones. You will find just about everything in Russia, including rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, tundra, and many more types of land.
#2: Canada
Canada is the biggest country in the Americas, and second in the world with 3,854,082 square miles. Canada is full of lakes and rivers, and if you actually only measured land area (so do not include lakes, rivers, bays) Canada would rank 4th in total area in the world.
#3: United States
The United States is the third largest country in the world, with a square miles total of 3,717,727. The only reason the United States ranks so high on the list is because of Alaska, which is 586,412 square mile, twice the size of Texas, and roughly 15% of the total United States land area.
#4 China
China ranks fourth with an area of 3,704,426 square miles. China has long been considered to be home to one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and also home to more people than anywhere else in the world, with 19% of the world’s population.
#5 Brazil
Brazil ranks number 5 on the list of top 10 largest countries in the world. Besides being known for its beautiful beaches and wild parties, Brazil has 3,285,618 square miles of land that includes mountains, highlands, lowlands, coastline, plains, and scrublands. Brazil also has one of the most complex systems of rivers in the world.
#6 Australia
Australia is the first country on the list under the 3,000,000 square miles mark, coming in at 2,967,124 square miles. Australia is home to the outback, which is one of the harshest climates in the world, and leaves much of Australia’s land sparsely populated. Australia is also surrounded by beautiful coastline, and the Great Barrier Reef, making it one of the best places in the world for water activities.
#7 India
India is seventh on the list of land size, coming in with 1,269,009 square miles, much smaller than the top six. India might be a large country, but it does often run into problems supporting the second largest population in the world of over a billion people, and roughly 17% of the world’s population.
#8 Argentina
Argentina is often the surprising person on the top 10 list, with a square mileage total of 1,068,019. Argentina actually ranks as the largest Spanish speaking country in the world, with an area bigger than Mexico (Mexico, Colombia, and Spain do have more people). Argentina has many different geography types, including rugged mountain ranges, very fertile soil regions, and tropical flats.
#9 Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world with an area of 1,048,877 square miles. This land area makes Kazakhstan the largest land locked country in the world, since it has no ocean front property. Kazakhstan as a wealth of different geographic features, including deserts, mountains, plains, hills, and much more. This country also ranks 62nd in population, meaning everyone have plenty of room to live in.
#10 Sudan
Sudan rounds out the top 10 countries with an area of 967,243 square miles, just short of that million mark. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, and borders the Red Sea. Sudan is mostly a flat plain like terrain, with the occasional rivers and mountains to break up the monotony.
For a complete list of countries organized by their area, I would encourage you to click on this link: http://geography.about.com/od/countryinformation/a/bigcountries.htm
