Russia is the largest country in the world by far, with a total area of just over 17 million square kilometers. After Antarctica, the next three countries are Canada, the U.S., and China; all between 9.5 and 10 million square kilometers. The figures given include internal water surface area (such as lakes or rivers) - if the figures were for land surface only then China would be the second largest country in the world, the U.S. third, and Canada (the country with more lakes than the rest of the world combined) fourth. Russia Russia has a population of around 145 million people, putting it in the top ten most populous countries in the world, and making it the most populous in Europe. However, it's vast size gives it a very low population density, ranked among the bottom 20 countries. Most of Russia's population is concentrated in the west, with around 75 percent of the population living in the European part, while around 75 percent of Russia's territory is in Asia; the Ural Mountains are considered the continental border. Elsewhere in the world Beyond Russia, the world's largest countries all have distinctive topographies and climates setting them apart. The United States, for example, has climates ranging from tundra in Alaska to tropical forests in Florida, with various mountain ranges, deserts, plains, and forests in between. Populations in these countries are often concentrated in urban areas, and are not evenly distributed across the country. For example, around 85 percent of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border; around 95 percent of China lives east of the Heihe–Tengchong Line that splits the country; and the majority of populations in large countries such as Australia or Brazil live near the coast.

The Caspian Sea in Central Asia is, by far, the largest lake worldwide with 386,000 square kilometers. Lake Superior on the border between Canada and the United States, the world's second largest lake, is, by comparison, 82,000 square kilometers.

With a market capitalization of 3.12 trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2024, Microsoft was the world’s largest company that year. Rounding out the top five were some of the world’s most recognizable brands: Apple, NVIDIA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Amazon. Saudi Aramco led the ranking of the world's most profitable companies in 2023, with a pre-tax income of nearly 250 billion U.S. dollars. How are market value and market capitalization determined? Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently used – and confused - when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Strictly speaking, market capitalization (or market cap) is the worth of a company based on the total value of all their shares; an important metric when determining the comparative value of companies for trading opportunities. Accordingly, many stock exchanges such as the New York or London Stock Exchange release market capitalization data on their listed companies. On the other hand, market value technically refers to what a company is worth in a much broader context. It is determined by multiple factors, including profitability, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole. In this sense it aims to estimate the overall value of a company, with share price only being one element. Market value is therefore useful for determining whether a company’s shares are over- or undervalued, and in arriving at a price if the company is to be sold. Such valuations are generally made on a case-by-case basis though, and not regularly reported. For this reason, market capitalization is often reported as market value. What are the top companies in the world? The answer to this question depends on the metric used. Although the largest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's global revenue did not manage to crack the top 20 companies. Rather, American multinational retailer Walmart was ranked as the largest company in the world by revenue. Walmart also had the highest number of employees in the world.

As of May 2025, China had the largest armed forces in the world by active duty military personnel, with about *********** active soldiers. India, the United States, North Korea, and Russia rounded out the top five largest armies. Difference between active and reserve personnel Active personnel, also known as active duty in the United States and active service in the United Kingdom, are those individuals whose full-time occupation is being part of a military force. Active duty contrasts with a military’s reserve force, which are individuals who have both a military role and a civilian career. The number of active duty forces in the U.S. is much larger than its reserve membership. What is the strongest army? The strength of a country’s armed forces is not only determined by how many personnel they maintain, but also the number and quality of their military equipment. For example, looking only at personnel does not factor in the overwhelmingly higher number of nuclear warheads owned by Russia and the United States compared to other countries. One way to answer this question is to look at the total amount of money each country spends on their military, as spending includes both personnel and technology. In terms of countries with the highest military spending, the United States leads the world with an annual budget almost ***** times larger than second-placed China.

This statistic presents the largest rivers in the world based on drainage area. The Mississippi River in North America has a drainage area of *** million square kilometers. Rivers act as habitats, travel routes, electricity sources, sediment deposits, and drainage channels for surface water.

It is projected that Japan will be the third largest ad market in 2024, with a total advertising expenditure of nearly ** billion U.S. dollars. The United States will remain on the throne with ad spend amounting to about *** billion dollars, and China will take second place that year.

In 2025, the United States had the largest economy in the world, with a gross domestic product of over 30 trillion U.S. dollars. China had the second largest economy, at around 19.23 trillion U.S. dollars. Recent adjustments in the list have seen Germany's economy overtake Japan's to become the third-largest in the world in 2023, while Brazil's economy moved ahead of Russia's in 2024. Global gross domestic product Global gross domestic product amounts to almost 110 trillion U.S. dollars, with the United States making up more than one-quarter of this figure alone. The 12 largest economies in the world include all Group of Seven (G7) economies, as well as the four largest BRICS economies. The U.S. has consistently had the world's largest economy since the interwar period, and while previous reports estimated it would be overtaken by China in the 2020s, more recent projections estimate the U.S. economy will remain the largest by a considerable margin going into the 2030s.The gross domestic product of a country is calculated by taking spending and trade into account, to show how much the country can produce in a certain amount of time, usually per year. It represents the value of all goods and services produced during that year. Those countries considered to have emerging or developing economies account for almost 60 percent of global gross domestic product, while advanced economies make up over 40 percent.

The biggest volcano on Earth is the Mauna Loa in Hawaii, United States at 9,170 feet meters. The Mauna Loa is an active shield volcano and its lava eruptions are silica-poor and very fluid. The only volcano larger than the Mauna Loa is the Tamu Massif, located under water, and is now extinct.

This statistic shows the largest reservoirs around the world according to their storage volume. Lake Nasser has a storage capacity of 165,000 million cubic meters.

This statistic displays the ten largest deserts on earth. The largest desert on earth is the Antarctic desert, covering the continent of Antarctica with a size of around 5.5 million square miles. The term desert includes polar deserts, subtropical deserts, cold winter and cool coastal deserts, and are based on their geographical situation.

The statistic represents the world's largest operators of nuclear reactors based on the number of reactors installed

Worldwide, the Kutupalong Expansion Site in Bangladesh was the largest refugee camp, hosting nearly *********** refugees. Most of its refugee population is Rohingya, who have fled from neighboring Myanmar after years of persecution and a genocide that started in 2016. Violent conflicts in East Africa Some of the largest refugee camps in the world are located in East Africa. This is no surprise as violent conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have forced millions to flee their countries. Many refugees do not end up in refugee camps, but are forced to reside on the outskirts of towns, while others take the dangerous route towards Europe or North America. Africa is also the continent in the world with the second highest number of registered refugees, behind Europe, including Turkey. Increasing number of refugees After being relatively stable through the 2000s, the number of refugees in the world has increased since 2012. This is strongly connected to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and as a result, the highest number of refugees in the world is from Syria. Moreover, the Russia-Ukraine war since February 2022, the Taliban retaking power in Afghanistan in 2021, and the civil war in Sudan have increased the global refugee count.

The IGD has predicted that the U.S. food retail market will reach a volume of 1,655 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. China will follow with a food market volume of 1,627 billion dollars, while India, which will rank third, is expected to reach a volume of 656 billion dollars.

As of July 16, 2025, Nvidia was the leading tech company by market capitalization globally at 4.16 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia became the first company to ever achieve the four trillion milestone, hitting this figure for the first time in July 2025. Microsoft ranked second at 3.76 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia's immense growth With a focus that began with origins in gaming, Nvidia's business strategy has been transformed by demand from data centers that sit at the heart of the AI boom. The company's chips have been favored to support in the training and running of a range of large language models, most notably in the development of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Apple is also among the leaders Since its foundation in a Californian garage in 1976, Apple has expanded massively, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world. The company started its origins in the PC industry with the Macintosh, but soon entered other segments of the consumer electronics market. Today, the iPhone is the most popular Apple product, although Mac, iPad, wearables, and services also contribute to its high revenues. Aiming at innovation, Apple invests every year in research and development, spanning a wide array of technologies from AI through to extended reality.

The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest rainforest by a significant margin. Compared to the Congo rainforest, the second largest, the Amazon is more than twice its size in terms of its tree cover extent, and more than three times larger in terms of primary forest area. In fact, over half of all tropical primary forest area on the planet is located in the amazon. Primary forest refers to the area of the forest that remains largely undisturbed by human activity, whereas the total tree cover extent refers to both the primary and secondary forest, which includes areas that have been used for commercial purposes such as logging or palm oil production, or reforested areas of conservation.

In some rainforests in Southeast Asia and South America, less than 50 percent of the forest area is made up of primary forest area due to human activity. This figure is lowest in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, where the figure is just over 10 percent, and Paraguay is the country that has seen the largest relative decrease in its total forest area over the past three decades.

As of 2022, the largest hospital in the world was found in Henan, China. With seven thousand beds, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University was ranked as the largest hospital globally according to its number of beds. The second-largest hospital was also found in China. No U.S. hospital made the world top 20 list, although AdventHealth Orlando was close, being the largest hospital in the United States.

In 2024, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was the world's largest bank by total assets, reaching nearly 6.7 trillion U.S. dollars. The next three largest banks were also based in China: the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China. The largest non-Chinese bank that year was JPMorgan Chase, with total assets exceeding four trillion U.S. dollars. Largest bank by market capitalization The value of total assets is a common measure of a bank's prosperity, and is defined as all assets owned by the bank. Another common indicator is the bank's market capitalization, which is used to determine the size of the bank. The market capitalization is the market price of one share multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. Ranked by market capitalization instead of total assets, JPMorgan Chase was the largest bank in the world in 2024, while ICBC ranked third. How do digital banks compare? Digital banks have surged in popularity over the past decade, attracting millions of customers with their convenient mobile interfaces, lower fees, and innovative financial products. Despite this impressive user growth, their financial footprint remains dwarfed by traditional banking institutions. A prime example is WeBank, which despite boasting approximately 400 million users - making it the world's largest digital bank by customer count - managed total assets of only about 74 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

Located in India, the Reliance Industries-owned Jamnagar Refinery is the largest oil refinery in the world. As of April 2023, the Jamnagar Refinery held a capacity of **** million barrels per day, topping refineries, such as the SK Energy Co. refinery in Ulsan, South Korea and the Paraguana Refinery Complex. Reliance Industries Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational corporation headquartered in Mumbai. The value of the Reliance Industries Limited brand stood at about *** billion U.S. dollars in 2022, making it one of the leading Indian brands of that year, alongside companies, such as Tata and LIC. Reliance Industries’ turnover amounted to approximately *** trillion Indian rupees in the fiscal year 2022. Oil refineries on a global scale Crude oil is processed in oil refineries where it is turned into products such as motor fuel and heating oil. The total global refinery capacity for crude oil stood at roughly ***** million barrels per day in 2023. Global refinery capacity has almost doubled since 1970. Next to India, the countries with the largest oil refinery capacity included the United States and China, with the latter having significantly built up its capacity volume in the past decade.

As of October 2024, the largest casino in the world by size was the Casino di Campione in Italy. The casino measured approximately ******* square feet in size. Meanwhile, nine of the other ten largest casinos globally were located either in the United States or China.

Based on revenue generated in 2023, the largest advertising agency group worldwide was WPP with **** billion U.S. dollars in revenue. The Japanese agency Dentsu ranked seventh that year, generating *** billion dollars in revenue. WPP: from a wire basket and teapot maker to a global marketing giant WPP is a London-based company that offers services in communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce sectors. WPP started as a humble maker of wire baskets and teapots, but over time transformed into a global marketing powerhouse through acquisitions. In 2022, the company was the most creative media holding worldwide, beating its competitors such as Omnicom Group, Interpublic Group, Havas Group, Dentsu, and Publicis Groupe. Global advertising spending is on the rise, North America leads the way Global advertising spending has been growing steadily since 2009. The only exception was 2020, when COVID-19 made the market shrink by some ** billion dollars. By the end of 2024, the expenditure is likely to reach approximately *** billion U.S. dollars. In 2022, Canada and the United States accounted for over ** percent of the ad market with an ad spend of roughly *** billion dollars. The Asia-Pacific region (APAC) region and Europe followed.