Russia is 1.71× the size of Canada

Russia covers about 16,980,000 km² (6,556,000 mi²) and Canada about 9,946,000 km² (3,840,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

16,980,000km²Russia
9,946,000km²Canada

2,000 km

Russia
Canada

What fits

Canada is 59% of the size of Russia.
Russia is larger by 7,035,000 km² (2,716,000 mi²), which is 71% of the area of Canada.
Measured in Belgiums: Russia is about 554, Canada about 324.

How they differ

Russia also has the larger population: 146.1 million against 37.0 million, 3.95× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 8.6 in Russia against 3.7 in Canada: Russia is 2.31× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 5,920 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Russia at 66°N is drawn about 6.1× too large and Canada at 60°N about 4.1×, so the map shows Russia as 2.52× the size of Canada instead of 1.71×.
The gap between them, 7,035,000 km², is about the size of Australia (7,691,000 km²).
At Canada's density, Russia would have 63.2 million people (it has 146.1 million). At Russia's density, Canada would have 85.6 million (it has 37.0 million).
Russia's centre is 5.6° of latitude, about 620 km, farther north than Canada's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Russia	1.71×
More people	Russia	3.95×
More crowded	Russia	2.31×
Farther north	Russia	5.6° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Russia	6.1× against 4.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Russia	Canada
Belgium 30,700 km²	554×	324×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	69.7×	40.8×
Germany 358,000 km²	47.5×	27.8×
Japan 374,000 km²	45.5×	26.6×
France 548,000 km²	31.0×	18.2×
India 3,151,000 km²	5.39×	3.16×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	2.00×	1.17×
United States 9,447,000 km²	1.80×	1.05×

Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.

Side by side

	Russia	Canada
Area, main territory	16,980,000 km²6,556,000 mi²	9,946,000 km²3,840,000 mi²
Population	146.1 millionWikidata, 2025	37.0 millionWikidata, 2021
Density	8.6 per km²	3.7 per km²
Official area	17,098,000 km²Wikidata	9,985,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Moscow	Ottawa
Latitude range	41°N to 82°N	42°N to 83°N
Continent	Europe	North America

Population: Wikidata 2025 and Wikidata 2021, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 17,098,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 16,980,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 9,985,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 9,946,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Russia

Similar in size to Canada

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. Main territory: the largest landmass and every part within 1,000 km of it.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. Comparisons use main-territory area.
Drawing: Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and the two can be laid over each other.
Data built: 2026-11-11

Full method