Which country is the largest by area?

Russia is the largest country on Earth by area, spanning roughly 17.1 million square kilometres, which is about 11 percent of the world total land area. It stretches across two continents, Europe and Asia, and covers 11 time zones from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. It is so vast that it is nearly twice as large as the second-biggest country, Canada, which covers about 10 million square kilometres. Following them are the United States and China, each around 9.6 million square kilometres, and then Brazil. Despite its enormous size, much of Russia is sparsely populated, with vast stretches of cold Siberian forest and tundra. Country size can be ranked slightly differently depending on how disputed territories and water are counted, but Russia lead is undisputed.