Which nation has the world’s largest land area?

Russia has the world’s largest land area.

Russia spans eastern Europe and northern Asia, covering about 17.1 million square kilometres. It stretches across eleven time zones, from the Baltic and Black Sea regions to the Pacific coast. Its size makes it the largest country by total area as well as by land area, although exact rankings can vary slightly according to how inland waters and disputed territories are counted.

The country’s landscape includes Arctic tundra, vast boreal forests, grasslands, mountains, and major river systems. Siberia occupies much of Russia’s Asian territory and contains Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest freshwater lake by maximum depth. The Volga, Europe’s longest river, flows through western Russia into the Caspian Sea.

Russia’s modern territorial scale developed through centuries of expansion by the Russian state across northern Eurasia. It became the Russian Empire in 1721 and later the Soviet Union’s largest constituent republic. Canada is the second-largest country by total area, so comparisons should distinguish between total area, land area, and water area.