How big is Russia?

Russia encloses approximately 16,879,675 km² in this site’s Natural Earth boundary dataset. Russia is the largest country feature in this atlas. It spans many longitudes and latitudes, which makes a single projected outline particularly sensitive to where and how a flat world map is cut.

Map-derived area
16,879,675 km²
Area order
1 of 241 mapped places
Representative latitude
61.0° N
Mercator area scale at that point
4.3× its equatorial scale

What the map shows

Its northern parts expand strongly in Mercator. Moving the outline south changes its projected appearance, while the spherical boundary area remains the same. Parts can pass across the left or right edge of the map during a large move.

The Mercator factor above is calculated at one representative point. It changes across the country and describes map enlargement, not a change in its real area. See Russia at its original position, then open the equal-area view.

Russia compared with Canada

Russia is 1.71× the area of Canada in this dataset. The bars below encode area as length, with the larger area spanning the full line.

Russia16,879,675 km²
Canada9,872,085 km²
Bar lengths show the ratio of the two boundary-derived area estimates. They do not show how one outline would physically fit inside the other.

Read the full comparison or place the outlines together on the map.

Places nearby in the area order

The entries immediately above and below Russia in the same mapped dataset are shown here. A different source or an official land-area ranking can put close places in another order.

What this area figure includes

A country this wide exposes limits of a simplified global boundary file: small coastal parts and islands are generalized, and borders reflect the source’s de facto mapping choices. Use the figure for comparisons within this atlas rather than as a legal or official area claim.

The area is calculated from the original Natural Earth 1:50m Admin 0 countries polygon. It is a consistent estimate for this map, not a certified land or total-area statistic. Read the area definitions before using the figure in research or teaching.