What is Canada's total area?

Canada's total area is 9,984,670 square kilometres, making Canada the second-largest country in the world by total area after Russia (17,098,242 square kilometres). Canada is the fourth-largest country by land area at 9,093,510 square kilometres, after Russia, China, and the United States. The difference between total and land area (about 891,000 square kilometres) is Canada's freshwater coverage, the largest absolute and relative freshwater area of any country in the world.

Canada spans about 6,400 kilometres east to west (from Cape Spear, Newfoundland to Mount Saint Elias, Yukon) and 4,634 kilometres north to south (from Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island at latitude 83.10 north to Middle Island, Lake Erie at latitude 41.69 north). The country covers about 7 per cent of the Earth's land surface but holds only about 0.5 per cent of the world's population, giving Canada one of the lowest population densities on Earth at about 4 people per square kilometre.

Provincial and territorial areas: Quebec is the largest province at 1,542,056 square kilometres (15.4 per cent of Canada). Ontario is second at 1,076,395 square kilometres (10.8 per cent). British Columbia is third at 944,735 square kilometres (9.5 per cent). Alberta is fourth at 661,848 square kilometres (6.6 per cent). The three territories combined cover 3,921,739 square kilometres (39.3 per cent), with Nunavut the largest at 2,093,190 square kilometres (about 21 per cent of Canada). Prince Edward Island is the smallest at 5,660 square kilometres (0.06 per cent).

Canada's freshwater area is exceptional. About 891,163 square kilometres are covered by lakes, the largest freshwater extent of any country (more than the next five countries combined). Canada has more lakes than any other country, with about 31,752 lakes larger than 3 square kilometres and millions of smaller lakes. The Canadian Shield contains about 60 per cent of the world's freshwater lakes by count. The Great Lakes (shared with the United States) contain about 21 per cent of the world's surface freshwater. Canada also has the world's longest coastline at 243,042 kilometres (more than five times the length of the second-longest, Indonesia at about 54,716 kilometres), reflecting the convoluted Arctic Archipelago and Pacific fjord coasts.