Which country is the world's second-largest landlocked country?

Mongolia is the world’s second-largest landlocked country, covering about 1.56 million square kilometres.

It is located between Russia and China, with no direct access to an ocean or sea. Mongolia’s territory includes the wide grasslands of the eastern steppe, the Altai Mountains in the west, and the Gobi Desert across the south.

Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country. Mongolia is notable because it is the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign state by population density, although density figures can change as population estimates are updated. Its modern capital, Ulaanbaatar, lies in a northern river valley and contains a large share of the country’s population.