Political maps

Largest Subdivisions Mapped

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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 map of subdivisions by area
The 50 largest subdivisions in the world

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

The map of the 50 largest subdivisions in the world

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 nameCountryArea (km2)Comparable country by area
YakutiaRussia3,083,523India
State of Western AustraliaAustralia2,645,615Kazakhstan
Krasnoyarsk KraiRussia2,339,700DR Congo
GreenlandKingdom of Denmark2,166,086Saudi Arabia
Territory of NunavutCanada2,038,722Mexico
State of QueenslandAustralia1,851,856Sudan
State of AlaskaU.S.1,717,854Iran
XinjiangChina1,664,897Iran
State of AmazonasBrazil1,570,745Mongolia
Province of QuebecCanada1,542,056Mongolia
Northern TerritoryAustralia1,419,630Mongolia
Northwest TerritoriesCanada1,346,106Peru
State of ParáBrazil1,253,164Angola
TibetChina1,202,189SouthAfrica
Inner MongoliaChina1,183,000Colombia
Province of OntarioCanada1,076,395Bolivia
State of South AustraliaAustralia1,044,353Mauritania
Province of British ColumbiaCanada944,735Tanzania
State of Mato GrossoBrazil906,807Venezuela
State of New South WalesAustralia809,952Mozambique
Khabarovsk KraiRussia788,600Turkey
Irkutsk OblastRussia767,900Chile
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous OkrugRussia750,300Zambia
Chukotka Autonomous OkrugRussia737,700Zambia
Qinghai ProvinceChina721,000Zambia
State of TexasU.S.696,241Myanmar
Eastern ProvinceSaudi Arabia672,522Myanmar
Agadez RegionNiger667,799Somalia
Province of AlbertaCanada661,848Afghanistan
Province of SaskatchewanCanada651,900Afghanistan
Province of ManitobaCanada649,950France
Arkhangelsk Oblast[16]Russia587,400Madagascar
State of Minas GeraisBrazil586,522Madagascar
State of BahiaBrazil564,273Kenya
Tamanrasset ProvinceAlgeria556,200Kenya
Khanty–Mansi Autonomous OkrugRussia534,800Yemen
Tombouctou RegionMali496,611Turkmenistan
Sichuan ProvinceChina485,000Turkmenistan
Yukon TerritoryCanada482,443Turkmenistan
Kufra DistrictLibya479,160Cameroon
Kamchatka KraiRussia472,300Cameroon
Magadan OblastRussia461,400Papua New Guinea
Heilongjiang ProvinceChina460,000Papua New Guinea
Gansu ProvinceChina454,000Sweden
New Valley GovernorateEgypt440,098Iraq
Zabaykalsky KraiRussia431,500Iraq
Karagandy RegionKazakhstan427,982Iraq
Adrar ProvinceAlgeria424,948Iraq
State of CaliforniaU.S.423,967Iraq
Komi RepublicRussia415,900Paraguay

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

World's 12 largest subdivisions
The 50 most populated subdivisions

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

The map of the most populated subdivisions

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.

SubdivisionCountryCapitalPopulationArea (km2)Density per km2Comparable Country by population
Uttar PradeshIndiaLucknow230,907,000243,290949.102Pakistan
MaharashtraIndiaMumbai124,437,000307,713404.393Japan
BiharIndiaPatna123,083,00094,1631,307.1Japan
GuangdongChinaGuangzhou115,210,000179,800640.768Ethiopia
PunjabPakistanLahore110,012,442205,344535.747Philippines
ShandongChinaJinan100,700,000157,100640.993Vietnam
West BengalIndiaKolkata98,125,00088,7521,105.6Vietnam
HenanChinaZhengzhou96,400,000167,000577.246Vietnam
Madhya PradeshIndiaBhopal84,516,000308,252274.178Turkey
SichuanChinaChengdu83,750,000485,000172.68Germany
JiangsuChinaNanjing80,700,000102,600786.55Germany
RajasthanIndiaJaipur79,281,000342,239231.654Germany
Tamil NaduIndiaChennai76,402,000130,058587.446Thailand
HebeiChinaShijiazhuang75,920,000188,800402.119Thailand
GujaratIndiaGandhinagar69,788,000196,024356.018Thailand
HunanChinaChangsha69,180,000210,000329.429Thailand
KarnatakaIndiaBengaluru66,845,000191,791348.53United Kingdom
AnhuiChinaHefei63,660,000140,200454.066France
HubeiChinaWuhan59,270,000185,900318.827South Africa
ZhejiangChinaHangzhou58,500,000101,800574.656South Africa
EnglandUnited KingdomLondon56,286,961130,279432.049Kenya
Andhra PradeshIndiaAmaravati52,787,000162,975323.896South Korea
West JavaIndonesiaBandung50,103,30035,3781,416.2Colombia
GuangxiChinaNanning49,600,000237,600208.754Colombia
YunnanChinaKunming48,580,000394,000123.299Uganda
SindhPakistanKarachi47,886,051140,914339.825Uganda
JiangxiChinaNanchang46,660,000166,900279.579Spain
São PauloBrazilSão Paulo46,649,132248,223187.932Spain
OdishaIndiaBhubaneswar44,033,000155,707282.794Ukraine
LiaoningChinaShenyang43,520,000145,900298.286Ukraine
Dhaka DivisionBangladeshDhaka42,607,00020,5512,073.2Ukraine
East JavaIndonesiaSurabaya40,156,70047,800840.1Afghanistan
FujianChinaFuzhou39,730,000121,400327.265Afghanistan
CaliforniaUnited StatesSacramento39,368,078423,97092.8558Afghanistan
ShaanxiChinaXi'an38,760,000205,800188.338Canada
JharkhandIndiaRanchi38,471,00079,714482.61Canada
TelanganaIndiaHyderabad37,725,000112,077336.599Poland
HeilongjiangChinaHarbin37,510,000454,80082.4758Morocco
ShanxiChinaTaiyuan37,290,000156,000239.038Morocco
GuizhouChinaGuiyang36,230,000176,200205.619Saudi Arabia
Khyber PakhtunkhwaPakistanPeshawar35,525,047101,741349.171Saudi Arabia
KeralaIndiaThiruvananthapuram35,489,00038,863913.18Saudi Arabia
OromiaEthiopiaAddis Ababa35,467,001286,612123.746Saudi Arabia
AssamIndiaDispur35,043,00078,438446.76Saudi Arabia
Central JavaIndonesiaSemarang34,917,00032,8011,064.5Saudi Arabia
Chittagong DivisionBangladeshChittagong34,747,00033,7711,028.9Saudi Arabia
ChongqingChinaChongqing31,240,00082,403379.11Ghana
PunjabIndiaChandigarh30,339,00050,362602.42Yemen
ChhattisgarhIndiaRaipur29,493,000135,191218.158Nepal
HaryanaIndiaChandigarh29,483,00044,212666.86Nepal
TexasUnited StatesAustin29,360,759695,66242.2055Nepal
JilinChinaChangchun26,910,000187,400143.597Côte d'Ivoire
GansuChinaLanzhou26,470,000453,70058.3425North Korea
Inner MongoliaChinaHohhot25,400,0001,183,00021.47084Niger
XinjiangChinaÜrümqi25,230,0001,664,90015.15406Niger
ShanghaiChinaShanghai24,280,0006,3413,829Taiwan
FloridaUnited StatesTallahassee21,733,312170,312127.609Sri Lanka
Rajshahi DivisionBangladeshRajshahi21,607,00018,1741,188.9Sri Lanka
BeijingChinaBeijing21,540,00016,4111,312.5Sri Lanka
Minas GeraisBrazilBelo Horizonte21,411,923586,52836.5062Burkina Faso
AmharaEthiopiaBahir Dar21,134,988154,709136.611Mali
DelhiIndiaNew Delhi20,571,0001,48413,860Mali

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