The True Size of Russia
Compare Russia with other countries and regions on an interactive map to see their actual relative sizes.
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Type a country name and press Enter to add it to the map.
How big is Russia?
Russia covers about 17,098,242 km² (6,601,665 sq mi). On a Mercator map its apparent size depends entirely on latitude — drag the outline above onto another part of the world to see how it really compares.
Russia on a Mercator map
The centre of this country lies at 66° N, where the Mercator projection stretches area by about 4.8×. Its outline takes up as much room on the map as 81,553,516 km² would at the equator.
Russia compared with other countries
Total areas including inland water; ratios are rounded.
| Country | Area (km²) | Compared with Russia |
|---|---|---|
 Canada | 9,984,670 | 1.7× smaller |
 United States | 9,833,517 | 1.7× smaller |
 China | 9,596,960 | 1.8× smaller |
 Brazil | 8,515,770 | 2× smaller |
 Australia | 7,741,220 | 2.2× smaller |
 India | 3,287,263 | 5.2× smaller |
 Argentina | 2,780,400 | 6.1× smaller |
 Greenland | 2,166,086 | 7.9× smaller |
 Mexico | 1,964,375 | 8.7× smaller |
 Indonesia | 1,904,569 | 9× smaller |
 Pakistan | 796,095 | 21× smaller |
 France | 643,801 | 27× smaller |
 Ukraine | 603,550 | 28× smaller |
 Japan | 377,915 | 45× smaller |
 Poland | 312,685 | 55× smaller |
 New Zealand | 268,838 | 64× smaller |
 United Kingdom | 243,610 | 70× smaller |
 Netherlands | 41,543 | 412× smaller |
Countries closest in size to Russia
Measured on the globe from the same outlines the map draws, so the figures are approximate. Drag any of them next to Russia to see the difference for yourself.
Slightly larger
Slightly smaller
- Canada9,872,129 km²41.5% smaller
- United States9,439,451 km²44.1% smaller
- China9,371,251 km²44.5% smaller
How big Russia looks at other latitudes
Drag the outline so its centre sits on each of these latitudes and the map draws it this many times larger than its real area. Mercator stretches area roughly by the square of the scale, so the growth is steep.
| Where it actually sits (66° N) | 4.8× its real size |
| At the equator (Indonesia, Kenya, Ecuador) | its real size |
| At 30° (Egypt, northern Mexico, central Argentina) | 1.3× its real size |
| At 45° (northern Italy, Minnesota, New Zealand) | 1.9× its real size |
| At 60° (Oslo, Helsinki, southern Alaska) | 3.4× its real size |
| At 72° (central Greenland) | 7.2× its real size |
Questions about the size of Russia
How big is Russia?+
Russia has a total area of about 17,098,242 km² (6,601,665 sq mi), including inland water.
Why does Russia look bigger on a map than it really is?+
Because the Mercator projection stretches area the further you get from the equator. The centre of Russia is at 66° N, where the map draws it about 4.8× too large — as much room as 81,553,516 km² would take at the equator. Drag the outline toward the equator and it shrinks to its honest size.