Description
What is the biggest country in the world? Climb all 100 of the world's biggest countries by area, from #100 to #1, with each country's total area in square kilometres and square miles, its capital and one quick geography fact.
Every country is shown on a satellite globe with its borders outlined in gold, next to its flag.
How the list works: total area means land plus inland water, as listed on Wikipedia's "List of countries and dependencies by area" (which mostly uses UN Statistics Division figures), read on October 31, 2026. Only UN member states are ranked, so territories like Greenland (part of the Kingdom of Denmark) and the disputed Western Sahara are left out. Square miles are converted from the square kilometre figures.
Good to know: the United States is #4 here because its 9,525,067 km² leaves out coastal and territorial waters. Counting those waters, as the CIA World Factbook and the UN yearbook do, it covers 9,833,517 km² and would rank #3, ahead of China. France's total includes its five overseas regions, and Norway's includes Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
Every country (timestamps):
0:02 #100 Benin
0:06 #99 Eritrea
0:09 #98 Malawi
0:12 #97 North Korea
0:16 #96 Nicaragua
0:19 #95 Greece
0:22 #94 Tajikistan
0:26 #93 Nepal
0:29 #92 Bangladesh
0:32 #91 Tunisia
0:35 #90 Suriname
0:39 #89 Uruguay
0:42 #88 Cambodia
0:45 #87 Syria
0:49 #86 Senegal
0:52 #85 Kyrgyzstan
0:55 #84 Belarus
0:59 #83 Guyana
1:02 #82 Laos
1:05 #81 Romania
1:08 #80 Ghana
1:12 #79 Uganda
1:15 #78 United Kingdom
1:18 #77 Guinea
1:22 #76 Gabon
1:25 #75 New Zealand
1:28 #74 Burkina Faso
1:32 #73 Ecuador
1:35 #72 Philippines
1:38 #71 Italy
1:41 #70 Oman
1:45 #69 Poland
1:48 #68 Ivory Coast
1:51 #67 Malaysia
1:55 #66 Vietnam
1:58 #65 Finland
2:01 #64 Republic of the Congo
2:05 #63 Germany
2:08 #62 Japan
2:11 #61 Norway
2:14 #60 Zimbabwe
2:18 #59 Paraguay
2:21 #58 Iraq
2:24 #57 Morocco
2:28 #56 Uzbekistan
2:31 #55 Sweden
2:34 #54 Yemen
2:38 #53 Papua New Guinea
2:41 #52 Cameroon
2:44 #51 Turkmenistan
2:47 #50 Spain
2:51 #49 Thailand
2:54 #48 Kenya
2:57 #47 Botswana
3:01 #46 Madagascar
3:04 #45 Ukraine
3:07 #44 Central African Republic
3:11 #43 Somalia
3:14 #42 France
3:17 #41 South Sudan
3:20 #40 Afghanistan
3:24 #39 Myanmar
3:27 #38 Zambia
3:30 #37 Chile
3:34 #36 Turkey
3:37 #35 Mozambique
3:40 #34 Namibia
3:44 #33 Pakistan
3:47 #32 Venezuela
3:50 #31 Nigeria
3:53 #30 Tanzania
3:57 #29 Egypt
4:00 #28 Mauritania
4:03 #27 Bolivia
4:07 #26 Ethiopia
4:10 #25 Colombia
4:13 #24 South Africa
4:17 #23 Mali
4:20 #22 Angola
4:23 #21 Niger
4:26 #20 Chad
4:30 #19 Peru
4:33 #18 Mongolia
4:36 #17 Iran
4:40 #16 Libya
4:43 #15 Sudan
4:46 #14 Indonesia
4:50 #13 Mexico
4:53 #12 Saudi Arabia
4:56 #11 DR Congo
4:59 #10 Algeria
5:03 #9 Kazakhstan
5:06 #8 Argentina
5:09 #7 India
5:13 #6 Australia
5:16 #5 Brazil
5:19 #4 United States
5:23 #3 China
5:26 #2 Canada
5:29 #1 Russia
Sources
Areas: Wikipedia, List of countries and dependencies by area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area), checked against the UN Demographic Yearbook 2024, Table 3 (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/documents/dyb2024/table03.pdf).
Facts and capitals: The CIA World Factbook, final edition (the CIA stopped publishing it on February 4, 2026), from the archived data at github.com/factbook/factbook.json. Full list with a link for every fact: see the sources file.
Maps: NASA Blue Marble satellite imagery (public domain) with Natural Earth borders (public domain), shown with internationally recognised borders (for example, Crimea as part of Ukraine).
Flags: Wikimedia Commons (via github.com/hampusborgos/country-flags); Kyrgyzstan's 2023 flag via github.com/lipis/flag-icons.