Which country is the largest landlocked country?

Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world by area.

It covers about 2.7 million square kilometres, making it the world’s ninth-largest country overall and roughly the size of Western Europe. Although it has no coastline on an ocean, Kazakhstan borders the Caspian Sea, which is technically the world’s largest enclosed inland body of water rather than an ocean.

Kazakhstan lies mainly in Central Asia, with a small portion west of the Ural River often considered part of Eastern Europe. It borders Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Its huge territory includes steppe, desert, semi-desert, plateaus, and mountain regions.

A common mix-up is Ethiopia, which is Africa’s most populous landlocked country, while Kazakhstan is the largest by land area. Kazakhstan became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; its capital is Astana, while Almaty remains its largest city.