International Perspective - Statistique Canada

International perspective

View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

This page has been archived on the Web.

Related information

• International perspective
• St-Laurent Lowlands
• Lake Erie Lowland
• Fescue Grassland
• PDF version
• Data tables
• Sources

Total area: Canada is the second-largest country in the world with a total area of 9,984,670 km2, including 891,163 km2 of freshwater. This compares with Russia (17,098,242 km2), the United States (9,826,675 km2) and China (9,596,961 km2).

Land border: Canada's border with the United States is the world's longest international border, at 8,890 km. This compares with the 6,846-km boundary between Russia and Kazakhstan and the 5,308 km frontier between Chile and Argentina.

Coastline: Canada's coastline is the world's longest, measuring 243,042 km (includes the mainland coast and the coasts of offshore islands). This compares with Indonesia (54,716 km), Russia (37,653 km), the United States (19,924 km) and China (14,500 km).

Highest mountain: Canada's highest mountain is Mount Logan (5,959 m). This compares with Mount McKinley (6,194 m) in the United States, Aconcagua (6,962 m) in Argentina and Mount Everest (8,850 m) in Nepal.

Islands: Baffin Island, located in Nunavut, is Canada's largest island at 507,451 km2 and the fifth-largest island in the world. Greenland is the world's largest island, covering 2,166,086 km2. Manitoulin Island, located in Lake Huron, is the world's largest freshwater island, at 2,765 km2.

Renewable freshwater: Canada produces the most renewable freshwater (109,837 m3) per person each year. This compares with Brazil (43,756 m3), Russia (31,628 m3), Australia (23,851 m3), the United States (9,980 m3), France (3,226 m3), China (2,181 m3), India (1,648 m3) and South Africa (1,028 m3).

Freshwater: Freshwater covers 891,163 km2 in Canada. This compares with the United States (664,709 km2), Australia (58,920 km2) and Sweden (39,960 km2).

Rivers: The Mackenzie River is Canada's longest river. It stretches 4,241 km through the Northwest Territories, Alberta and British Columbia and covers a drainage area of 1,805,200 km2. The Nile (6,650 km) is the world's longest river, followed by the Amazon (6,400 km).

The Great Lakes: Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world, with a total surface area of 245,000 km2, of which about one-third is in Canada. Lake Michigan is entirely within the United States.

Map The world from space

Source: Statistics Canada, Geography Division.

View description for Map