Top 100 countries ranked by area

The total landmass of the Earth is about 148,949,200 square kilometers. It is interesting to see that 8 of these 100 are former Soviet Union republics. The Soviet Union with its 22,400,000 km² made up 15% of the world landmass!

Noticeable, Antarctica with its 14,200,000 km² - including water and ice, mind you - is not on the list.

I'm only listing 100 of some 225+ countries in the world. Partly because the last ones really are not part of the world's largest countries, but the world's smallest countries. Another reason is that several of the smallest are just autonomous cities/regions of other countries, plus many are involved in conflicts regarding its boundaries or independence. Examples: Hong Kong, Macao, Gaza Strip.

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Rank     Country              Area (km2)
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1       Russia              17,075,400
2       China               9,326,411
3       Canada              9,220,970 
4       United States       9,166,601 
5       Brazil              8,456,511  
6       Australia           7,617,931 
7       India               2,973,190
8       Argentina           2,736,690  
9       Kazakhstan          2,717,300 
10      Algeria             2,381,741  
11      Sudan               2,376,001
12      Congo (Kinshasa)    2,267,599
13      Saudi Arabia        2,149,690 
14      Mexico              1,923,039  
15      Indonesia           1,826,440  
16      Libya               1,759,540
17      Iran                1,635,999
18      Mongolia            1,565,000  
19      Peru                1,279,999
20      Niger               1,266,699
21      Chad                1,259,201
22      Angola              1,246,699  
23      South Africa        1,221,040 
24      Mali                1,219,999
25      Ethiopia            1,119,683  
26      Bolivia             1,084,389  
27      Colombia            1,038,699  
28      Mauritania          1,030,400 
29      Egypt                 995,451
30      Nigeria               910,771  
31      Tanzania              886,039  
32      Venezuela             882,050  
33      Namibia               823,291  
34      Mozambique            784,089 
35      Pakistan              778,720  
36      Turkey                770,761  
37      Chile                 748,800
38      Zambia                740,719  
39      Burma                 657,741
40      Afghanistan           647,500 
41      Somalia               627,339  
42      Central African Republic 622,980  
43      Ukraine               603,700  
44      Botswana              585,371  
45      Madagascar            581,540 
46      Kenya                 569,251
47      France                545,630  
48      Yemen                 527,969
49      Thailand              511,771  
50      Spain                 499,401
51      Turkmenistan          488,100 
52      Cameroon              469,440  
53      Papua New Guinea      451,709  
54      Uzbekistan            447,400 
55      Morocco               446,301  
56      Iraq                  433,970
57      Sweden                411,621  
58      Paraguay              397,301  
59      Japan                 394,744
60      Zimbabwe              386,669  
61      Germany               350,261  
62      Greenland             341,701  
63      Congo(Brazzaville)  341,499  
64      Malaysia              328,549  
65      Vietnam               325,361  
66      Cote d'Ivoire         318,000 
67      Norway                307,860  
68      Finland               305,470  
69      Poland                304,509  
70      Philippines           298,171 
71      Italy                 294,019
72      Ecuador               276,840  
73      Burkina Faso          273,799 
74      New Zealand           268,671 
75      Western Sahara        266,001  
76      Gabon                 257,669
77      Guinea                245,861  
78      United Kingdom        241,590  
79      Laos                  230,800
80      Romania               230,339  
81      Ghana                 230,020
82      Oman                  212,460
83      Belarus               207,600  
84      Uganda                199,710  
85      Kyrgyzstan            198,500 
86      Guyana                196,850  
87      Senegal               191,999  
88      Syria                 184,051
89      Cambodia              176,519  
90      Uruguay               173,621  
91      Suriname              161,471  
92      Tunisia               155,361  
93      Tajikistan            143,100 
94      Nepal                 136,801
95      Bangladesh            133,911 
96      Greece                130,800  
97      Eritrea               121,320  
98      Korea North           120,409 
99      Nicaragua             120,254 
100     Honduras              111,891
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It should be noted that there are (at least) two different ways to measure the area of a country. The first, as is used in bigmouth_strikes list, is to include just the land area of the country. The other and probably more common way, however, is to include the total globe surface under that countries sovereignty (including whatever surface water they control: be it territorial coastal waters, territorial seas, lakes, etc.).

To give an example of how this would change the listing:

As in the above list, China is ranked second (after Russia) with a LAND AREA of 9,326,410 km², while Canada is ranked third at 9,220,970 km² (latest stats from the World Factbook). When counting the more common TOTAL AREA, however, China jumps to 9,596,960 km², while Canada shoots to 9,976,140 km², putting in into second place (presumably China would become third).

This is due to a number of factors: Canada's larger coastline, huge inland sea (Hudson's Bay), and its numerous huge fresh water lakes (which may or may not be counted in LAND AREA).