Largest Subdivisions Mapped

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

A first-level subdivision or subnational entity is an officially outlined geographical division within a sovereign country. Such a division is designed to improve the responsiveness of a national government to sub-national activities. As such, a division is given some degree of administrative independence, which is considered as a form of limited self-government in some nations.

The names given to such national divisions include cantons, departments, governorates, krays, lands, oblasts, okrugs, prefectures, provinces, regions, republics, states, wilayahs.

The 50 largest subdivisions in the world

The map below displays the fifty largest country subdivisions by area in square kilometers.

The Yakutia (Russia) is the largest subnational entity on the planet by area at 3,083,523 km² or 1,190,555 mi². Yakutia is the 8th largest territory in the world. It is approximately the same size as India.

Subdivision name	Country	Area (km2)	Comparable country by area
Yakutia	Russia	3,083,523	India
State of Western Australia	Australia	2,645,615	Kazakhstan
Krasnoyarsk Krai	Russia	2,339,700	DR Congo
Greenland	Kingdom of Denmark	2,166,086	Saudi Arabia
Territory of Nunavut	Canada	2,038,722	Mexico
State of Queensland	Australia	1,851,856	Sudan
State of Alaska	U.S.	1,717,854	Iran
Xinjiang	China	1,664,897	Iran
State of Amazonas	Brazil	1,570,745	Mongolia
Province of Quebec	Canada	1,542,056	Mongolia
Northern Territory	Australia	1,419,630	Mongolia
Northwest Territories	Canada	1,346,106	Peru
State of Pará	Brazil	1,253,164	Angola
Tibet	China	1,202,189	SouthAfrica
Inner Mongolia	China	1,183,000	Colombia
Province of Ontario	Canada	1,076,395	Bolivia
State of South Australia	Australia	1,044,353	Mauritania
Province of British Columbia	Canada	944,735	Tanzania
State of Mato Grosso	Brazil	906,807	Venezuela
State of New South Wales	Australia	809,952	Mozambique
Khabarovsk Krai	Russia	788,600	Turkey
Irkutsk Oblast	Russia	767,900	Chile
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Russia	750,300	Zambia
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug	Russia	737,700	Zambia
Qinghai Province	China	721,000	Zambia
State of Texas	U.S.	696,241	Myanmar
Eastern Province	Saudi Arabia	672,522	Myanmar
Agadez Region	Niger	667,799	Somalia
Province of Alberta	Canada	661,848	Afghanistan
Province of Saskatchewan	Canada	651,900	Afghanistan
Province of Manitoba	Canada	649,950	France
Arkhangelsk Oblast[16]	Russia	587,400	Madagascar
State of Minas Gerais	Brazil	586,522	Madagascar
State of Bahia	Brazil	564,273	Kenya
Tamanrasset Province	Algeria	556,200	Kenya
Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug	Russia	534,800	Yemen
Tombouctou Region	Mali	496,611	Turkmenistan
Sichuan Province	China	485,000	Turkmenistan
Yukon Territory	Canada	482,443	Turkmenistan
Kufra District	Libya	479,160	Cameroon
Kamchatka Krai	Russia	472,300	Cameroon
Magadan Oblast	Russia	461,400	Papua New Guinea
Heilongjiang Province	China	460,000	Papua New Guinea
Gansu Province	China	454,000	Sweden
New Valley Governorate	Egypt	440,098	Iraq
Zabaykalsky Krai	Russia	431,500	Iraq
Karagandy Region	Kazakhstan	427,982	Iraq
Adrar Province	Algeria	424,948	Iraq
State of California	U.S.	423,967	Iraq
Komi Republic	Russia	415,900	Paraguay

The map below, created by Reddit user darwinpatrick shows Earth’s 12 largest subdivisions.

The 50 most populated subdivisions

The map below shows the most populous nation subdivisions in the world.

Uttar Pradesh (India) is the most-populous nation subdivision in the world, with roughly 231 million residents.

The list below contains the most populous subnational entities global with populations over twenty million and a nation of similar population size.

Subdivision	Country	Capital	Population	Area (km2)	Density per km2	Comparable Country by population
Uttar Pradesh	India	Lucknow	230,907,000	243,290	949.102	Pakistan
Maharashtra	India	Mumbai	124,437,000	307,713	404.393	Japan
Bihar	India	Patna	123,083,000	94,163	1,307.1	Japan
Guangdong	China	Guangzhou	115,210,000	179,800	640.768	Ethiopia
Punjab	Pakistan	Lahore	110,012,442	205,344	535.747	Philippines
Shandong	China	Jinan	100,700,000	157,100	640.993	Vietnam
West Bengal	India	Kolkata	98,125,000	88,752	1,105.6	Vietnam
Henan	China	Zhengzhou	96,400,000	167,000	577.246	Vietnam
Madhya Pradesh	India	Bhopal	84,516,000	308,252	274.178	Turkey
Sichuan	China	Chengdu	83,750,000	485,000	172.68	Germany
Jiangsu	China	Nanjing	80,700,000	102,600	786.55	Germany
Rajasthan	India	Jaipur	79,281,000	342,239	231.654	Germany
Tamil Nadu	India	Chennai	76,402,000	130,058	587.446	Thailand
Hebei	China	Shijiazhuang	75,920,000	188,800	402.119	Thailand
Gujarat	India	Gandhinagar	69,788,000	196,024	356.018	Thailand
Hunan	China	Changsha	69,180,000	210,000	329.429	Thailand
Karnataka	India	Bengaluru	66,845,000	191,791	348.53	United Kingdom
Anhui	China	Hefei	63,660,000	140,200	454.066	France
Hubei	China	Wuhan	59,270,000	185,900	318.827	South Africa
Zhejiang	China	Hangzhou	58,500,000	101,800	574.656	South Africa
England	United Kingdom	London	56,286,961	130,279	432.049	Kenya
Andhra Pradesh	India	Amaravati	52,787,000	162,975	323.896	South Korea
West Java	Indonesia	Bandung	50,103,300	35,378	1,416.2	Colombia
Guangxi	China	Nanning	49,600,000	237,600	208.754	Colombia
Yunnan	China	Kunming	48,580,000	394,000	123.299	Uganda
Sindh	Pakistan	Karachi	47,886,051	140,914	339.825	Uganda
Jiangxi	China	Nanchang	46,660,000	166,900	279.579	Spain
São Paulo	Brazil	São Paulo	46,649,132	248,223	187.932	Spain
Odisha	India	Bhubaneswar	44,033,000	155,707	282.794	Ukraine
Liaoning	China	Shenyang	43,520,000	145,900	298.286	Ukraine
Dhaka Division	Bangladesh	Dhaka	42,607,000	20,551	2,073.2	Ukraine
East Java	Indonesia	Surabaya	40,156,700	47,800	840.1	Afghanistan
Fujian	China	Fuzhou	39,730,000	121,400	327.265	Afghanistan
California	United States	Sacramento	39,368,078	423,970	92.8558	Afghanistan
Shaanxi	China	Xi'an	38,760,000	205,800	188.338	Canada
Jharkhand	India	Ranchi	38,471,000	79,714	482.61	Canada
Telangana	India	Hyderabad	37,725,000	112,077	336.599	Poland
Heilongjiang	China	Harbin	37,510,000	454,800	82.4758	Morocco
Shanxi	China	Taiyuan	37,290,000	156,000	239.038	Morocco
Guizhou	China	Guiyang	36,230,000	176,200	205.619	Saudi Arabia
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Pakistan	Peshawar	35,525,047	101,741	349.171	Saudi Arabia
Kerala	India	Thiruvananthapuram	35,489,000	38,863	913.18	Saudi Arabia
Oromia	Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	35,467,001	286,612	123.746	Saudi Arabia
Assam	India	Dispur	35,043,000	78,438	446.76	Saudi Arabia
Central Java	Indonesia	Semarang	34,917,000	32,801	1,064.5	Saudi Arabia
Chittagong Division	Bangladesh	Chittagong	34,747,000	33,771	1,028.9	Saudi Arabia
Chongqing	China	Chongqing	31,240,000	82,403	379.11	Ghana
Punjab	India	Chandigarh	30,339,000	50,362	602.42	Yemen
Chhattisgarh	India	Raipur	29,493,000	135,191	218.158	Nepal
Haryana	India	Chandigarh	29,483,000	44,212	666.86	Nepal
Texas	United States	Austin	29,360,759	695,662	42.2055	Nepal
Jilin	China	Changchun	26,910,000	187,400	143.597	Côte d'Ivoire
Gansu	China	Lanzhou	26,470,000	453,700	58.3425	North Korea
Inner Mongolia	China	Hohhot	25,400,000	1,183,000	21.47084	Niger
Xinjiang	China	Ürümqi	25,230,000	1,664,900	15.15406	Niger
Shanghai	China	Shanghai	24,280,000	6,341	3,829	Taiwan
Florida	United States	Tallahassee	21,733,312	170,312	127.609	Sri Lanka
Rajshahi Division	Bangladesh	Rajshahi	21,607,000	18,174	1,188.9	Sri Lanka
Beijing	China	Beijing	21,540,000	16,411	1,312.5	Sri Lanka
Minas Gerais	Brazil	Belo Horizonte	21,411,923	586,528	36.5062	Burkina Faso
Amhara	Ethiopia	Bahir Dar	21,134,988	154,709	136.611	Mali
Delhi	India	New Delhi	20,571,000	1,484	13,860	Mali