All the World’s Roads Mapped

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According to Nicolas de Loisy, the world has a total of 64,285,009 kilometers (39944853 miles)of roads of all types. There are 411,853 km (411854 mi) of expressways and 63,873,156 km (39,688,939) of normal roads, both paved and unpaved, that are currently in use.

Visualizing roads is the best way to understand their size and reach. Adam Symington, a member of PythonMaps, utilized data from the Global Roads Inventory Project to chart the roads on a global scale. This resulted in a precise depiction of the human race’s desire for connectivity.

The Global Roads Inventory Project has classified all roads in their database using a UN classification system. To visualize this, the roads have been color-coded on the world map below using three different colors.

Category	Definition	Color
Main Roads	Highways and primary roads between and within cities and towns. Multi-lane, limited entry, and exit points.	White
Secondary Roads	Paved, high-traffic, access between neighborhoods.	Yellow
Tertiary Roads	Paved or unpaved residential access within neighborhoods, or rural points of interest.	Red
Local Roads	All other smaller roads that don’t fit above, and usually are not throughfare.	Red

The road network in the United States is the biggest in the world, covering almost 3 million kilometers (1.9 million miles). This is almost twice as much as China’s (1.7 million km or 1 million mi) and three times more than India’s (1 million km or 0.6 million mi).

According to the dataset, Norfolk Island has the smallest road network measuring only 10 kilometers or 6 miles.

However, if we categorize the road networks based on their type, the rankings undergo significant alterations.

China has surpassed the United States with almost twice as many main roads (highways + primary roads). Additionally, Japan and Canada have entered the top 10 list for the largest main road networks. However, India has fallen to the 8th position on the list.

More than 50% of the large road map in the United States is composed of local roads, totaling 1.8 million km in the database. This extensive network provides unparalleled accessibility throughout almost the entire country. The United States has the highest number of secondary roads in the world. Meanwhile, Argentina, India, and Australia are the top countries with the most tertiary roads.

Rank	Country	All Roads, km	% of World's Roads	Main Roads, km	Secondary Roads, km	Tertiary Roads, km	Local Roads, km
1	U.S.	3097278	14.34%	3668	898873	42071	1789534
2	China	1709997	7.92%	683248	306176	373831	346742
3	India	1052718	4.87%	69748	41379	52613	4305
4	Mexico	741949	3.43%	105822	181088	185587	269452
5	Argentina	703087	3.25%	69188	55519	534876	43504
6	Brazil	681267	3.15%	86772	223662	283933	869
7	Russia	621813	2.88%	5292	512386	33742	22765
8	Australia	620393	2.87%	69138	73376	426346	51533
9	Germany	563155	2.61%	63517	97272	100513	301853
10	France	523566	2.42%	74956	114433	192191	141986
11	Japan	45244	2.09%	94451	67454	100536	189999
12	Turkey	448249	2.08%	59013	40863	203987	144386
13	Indonesia	42997	1.99%	29346	23324	334164	43136
14	Colombia	387471	1.79%	20884	43084	309725	13778
15	South Africa	331909	1.54%	56262	103332	138895	3342
16	Kazakhstan	30317	1.40%	47393	41074	149963	6474
17	Spain	273597	1.27%	64628	37571	80094	91304
18	UK	268709	1.24%	63673	30999	48605	125432
19	Thailand	264639	1.23%	45445	49924	129724	39546
20	Italy	263304	1.22%	47098	51038	84147	81021
21	Canada	243155	1.13%	91173	73525	46121	32336
22	Ukraine	22938	1.06%	16342	33147	17002	9871
23	Poland	224904	1.04%	20432	29499	67151	107822
24	Turkmenistan	2041	0.94%	4731	24952	17441	7
25	Peru	203726	0.94%	31361	47296	115038	10031
26	Vietnam	187599	0.87%	138	17635	152901	3263
27	Bangladesh	183317	0.85%	13272	21723	137497	10825
28	Somalia	163093	0.76%	4605	32248	125418	822
29	Dem. Rep. Congo	162174	0.75%	20209	29387	109962	2616
30	Iran	145177	0.67%	23722	98687	5953	16815
31	Iraq	140365	0.65%	12418	53285	71012	365
32	Angola	135627	0.63%	6691	10588	11468	3668
33	Sweden	121673	0.56%	20562	25438	45807	29866
34	South Korea	119456	0.55%	3359	24399	20517	4095
35	Venezuela	118378	0.55%	19663	13822	74656	10237
36	Libya	117504	0.54%	7277	5615	80985	23627
37	Bolivia	108594	0.50%	7957	8091	8296	9586
38	Pakistan	106183	0.49%	19186	25672	55535	579
39	Sudan	101345	0.47%	4859	5142	81954	939
40	Guinea	101324	0.47%	486	8379	9032	2139
41	New Zealand	100404	0.46%	12522	6913	64498	16471
42	Philippines	96466	0.45%	17077	15267	42811	21311
43	Sri Lanka	96023	0.44%	7704	15715	70536	2068
44	Kenya	94339	0.44%	5792	28241	57725	2581
45	Chile	9303	0.43%	21078	41353	20274	10325
46	Nigeria	92469	0.43%	7545	8119	68572	8233
47	Austria	90284	0.42%	13413	12878	1547	48523
48	Finland	89386	0.41%	14847	1603	33043	25466
49	Czech Republic	89266	0.41%	7877	15232	3564	30517
50	Saudi Arabia	86188	0.40%	1686	802	45593	15715
51	Greece	86128	0.40%	11533	12284	34815	27496
52	Afghanistan	83186	0.39%	4189	2204	75762	1031
53	Belarus	80824	0.37%	1772	29644	30928	2532
54	Ecuador	8029	0.37%	5725	11034	55207	8324
55	Myanmar	79401	0.37%	16527	13462	45041	4371
56	Ethiopia	79306	0.37%	1992	22006	33409	3971
57	Netherlands	77793	0.36%	11466	7425	1846	40442
58	Senegal	74928	0.35%	2051	5437	64354	3086
59	Taiwan	7287	0.34%	1144	8899	39987	12544
60	Cameroon	71882	0.33%	1574	3453	64095	276
61	Madagascar	71341	0.33%	2799	3779	63672	1091
62	Zimbabwe	70503	0.33%	13482	18803	34883	3335
63	Uruguay	69587	0.32%	10314	0	5916	113
64	Norway	66204	0.31%	27175	19057	5377	14595
65	Portugal	65181	0.30%	15545	9186	18646	21804
66	Belgium	65098	0.30%	9048	7281	12661	36108
67	Uzbekistan	64445	0.30%	16127	44	3557	761
68	Romania	63333	0.29%	17127	18403	9745	18058
69	Botswana	6313	0.29%	4979	8314	49837	0
70	Mali	59142	0.27%	3432	308	48397	4233
71	Mozambique	58693	0.27%	6686	23425	27266	1316
72	Cuba	56883	0.26%	5373	6285	29485	1574
73	Hungary	56209	0.26%	8732	11512	11819	24146
74	Algeria	55662	0.26%	8675	6407	36187	4393
75	Cambodia	545	0.25%	2231	11481	38387	2401
76	Egypt	5258	0.24%	5872	5678	35611	5419
77	Chad	52257	0.24%	304	1958	48767	1228
78	Denmark	50256	0.23%	5053	6113	6556	32534
79	Mauritania	50056	0.23%	1738	2185	45204	929
80	Mongolia	49873	0.23%	9061	40812	0	0
81	Switzerland	46046	0.21%	7278	5303	10821	22644
82	Ivory Coast	45807	0.21%	703	7531	29015	2231
83	Niger	44638	0.21%	2751	2099	38633	1155
84	Bulgaria	44225	0.20%	409	4533	24534	11068
85	Paraguay	43298	0.20%	5144	13669	21767	2718
86	Yemen	42476	0.20%	6647	503	3402	1306
87	Tanzania	42	0.19%	3852	4575	31734	1839
88	North Korea	41932	0.19%	7338	7775	20167	6652
89	Zambia	40581	0.19%	4648	3806	31113	1014
90	Guatemala	40413	0.19%	2745	10431	20632	6605
91	Namibia	40131	0.19%	2904	2146	35073	8
92	Ireland	3962	0.18%	1754	0	15379	6701
93	Morocco	39479	0.18%	4727	2424	28105	4223
94	Papua New Guinea	3796	0.18%	562	7168	25172	0
95	Malaysia	37237	0.17%	6022	16713	1402	482
96	Nepal	36791	0.17%	1728	3644	301	1319
97	Croatia	3487	0.16%	9844	11043	6506	7477
98	Syria	34433	0.16%	644	6834	16624	4535
99	Sierra Leone	33559	0.16%	419	4891	27374	875
100	Slovakia	33136	0.15%	4317	3723	10318	14778
101	Albania	33022	0.15%	5121	6249	21641	11
102	South Sudan	32277	0.15%	1266	4974	2603	7
103	Burkina Faso	31046	0.14%	2021	10087	15747	3191
104	Laos	28924	0.13%	6882	4089	17749	204
105	El Salvador	28506	0.13%	8984	8424	11072	26
106	Ghana	28024	0.13%	2107	8051	12883	4983
107	Kyrgyzstan	2785	0.13%	6121	18927	1039	1763
108	Latvia	26808	0.12%	7519	10213	4134	4942
109	Rwanda	26714	0.12%	2299	4215	19609	591
110	Lithuania	26144	0.12%	7452	5107	748	6105
111	Nicaragua	25373	0.12%	806	14212	1255	1846
112	Central African Republic	25249	0.12%	459	1861	22924	5
113	Israel	24801	0.11%	585	5095	12063	1793
114	Congo	24616	0.11%	2733	11063	7089	3731
115	Liberia	24507	0.11%	445	4563	19498	1
116	Oman	23546	0.11%	3435	2588	15395	2128
117	Jamaica	23193	0.11%	1972	5193	15495	533
118	Serbia	21858	0.10%	5536	5246	3832	7244
119	Benin	21289	0.10%	2225	5104	13281	679
120	Tunisia	20765	0.10%	4232	2606	9679	4248
121	Uganda	19523	0.09%	2024	346	16224	929
122	Mauritius	19434	0.09%	277	790	15209	3158
123	Jordan	19284	0.09%	3021	2119	7722	6422
124	U.A.E	19198	0.09%	8889	3172	2043	5094
125	Costa Rica	18924	0.09%	2608	11277	361	4678
126	Estonia	18551	0.09%	1859	3065	9745	3882
127	Haiti	18169	0.08%	1089	1347	13913	182
128	Burundi	1745	0.08%	1714	7571	8121	44
129	Tajikistan	16086	0.07%	2639	13447	0	0
130	East Timor	16048	0.07%	118	680	14066	122
131	Iceland	15374	0.07%	4666	3291	5934	1483
132	Azerbaijan	15361	0.07%	2889	7265	346	4861
133	Honduras	152	0.07%	2625	4696	5421	2458
134	Guinea-Bissau	13636	0.06%	71	3301	10257	7
135	Malawi	13238	0.06%	3352	7122	2625	139
136	Puerto Rico	12934	0.06%	2543	2539	3415	4437
137	Palestine	12817	0.06%	1035	751	2412	8619
138	Slovenia	12474	0.06%	2223	2686	3689	3876
139	Gabon	12286	0.06%	181	945	1115	10
140	Cyprus	11721	0.05%	1488	2311	2266	5656
141	Lebanon	11399	0.05%	2164	2368	4097	277
142	Dominican Republic	1089	0.05%	1148	3809	1152	4781
143	Panama	10417	0.05%	3887	3718	2811	1
144	Armenia	9888	0.05%	1231	2874	1578	4205
145	Belize	9817	0.05%	680	5153	3984	0
146	Qatar	9047	0.04%	557	2046	588	843
147	Moldova	886	0.04%	119	2898	4751	21
148	Georgia	8043	0.04%	1192	5412	198	1241
149	Bosnia	7769	0.04%	3239	1332	2529	669
150	Togo	7423	0.03%	855	970	2927	2671
151	Eritrea	7101	0.03%	477	30	6592	2
152	Western Sahara	6794	0.03%	182	568	6041	3
153	Djibouti	6786	0.03%	675	1673	4438	0
154	Gambia	5112	0.02%	85	14	3612	15
155	Luxembourg	5106	0.02%	1186	1916	381	1623
156	Guyana	4323	0.02%	0	929	3394	0
157	Guadeloupe	4303	0.02%	438	523	2017	1325
158	Northern Macedonia	415	0.02%	1332	1421	991	406
159	Singapore	3547	0.02%	1561	417	193	1376
160	French Guiana	3316	0.02%	475	1822	993	26
161	Lesotho	3157	0.01%	267	635	225	5
162	Martinique	2857	0.01%	323	442	1211	881
163	Montenegro	281	0.01%	842	519	809	640
164	Eswatini	2664	0.01%	648	1061	955	0
165	Equatorial Guinea	2609	0.01%	0	210	2399	0
166	Netherlands Antilles	2549	0.01%	310	151	747	1341
167	Cabo Verde	2392	0.01%	99	333	1959	1
168	Bhutan	2376	0.01%	1871	0	499	6
169	New Caledonia	2213	0.01%	340	1873	0	0
170	Suriname	1921	0.01%	103	891	0	0
171	Barbados	1806	0.01%	244	364	361	837
172	Kuwait	1651	0.01%	1334	128	64	125
173	Malta	1637	0.01%	228	223	173	1013
174	U.S. Virgin Islands	1429	0.01%	211	129	71	1018
175	Solomon Islands	1309	0.01%	0	0	1309	0
176	The Bahamas	1285	0.01%	0	1215	70	0
177	Fiji	1134	0.01%	407	727	0	0
178	Antigua and Barbuda	1125	0.01%	134	53	343	595
179	Kosovo	1111	0.01%	366	449	296	0
180	Aruba	890	0.00%	31	75	123	661
181	Dominica	862	0.00%	224	60	237	341
182	Faroe Islands	826	0.00%	246	130	42	408
183	St. Lucia	793	0.00%	115	51	394	233
184	Cayman Islands	746	0.00%	168	55	90	433
185	Brunei	660	0.00%	0	0	660	0
186	Trinidad and Tobago	636	0.00%	65	571	0	0
187	Isle of Man	610	0.00%	336	120	21	133
188	Sao Tome and Principe	538	0.00%	123	0	415	0
189	Grenada	516	0.00%	173	55	175	113
190	Bahrain	502	0.00%	502	0	0	0
191	Falkland Island	485	0.00%	0	485	0	0
192	Reunion	465	0.00%	190	146	129	0
193	St. Kitts and Nevis	446	0.00%	54	42	97	253
194	Vanuatu	445	0.00%	0	445	0	0
195	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	389	0.00%	50	53	160	126
196	Comoros	384	0.00%	0	0	384	0
197	Samoa	342	0.00%	0	342	0	0
198	British Virgin Islands	297	0.00%	72	39	119	67
199	Anguila	209	0.00%	42	11	45	111
200	Guam	201	0.00%	123	78	0	0
201	French Polynesia	175	0.00%	54	121	0	0
202	Northern Mariana Islands	145	0.00%	87	58	0	0
203	Tonga	135	0.00%	10	125	0	0
204	Montserrat	125	0.00%	20	2	33	70
205	San Marino	118	0.00%	13	11	58	36
206	Mayotte	109	0.00%	0	0	109	0
207	Niue	91	0.00%	0	91	0	0
208	Turks & Caicos Island	75	0.00%	0	9	66	0
209	Seychelles	70	0.00%	0	32	38	0
210	Saint Helena	57	0.00%	22	35	0	0
211	Cook Islands	47	0.00%	0	47	0	0
212	Monaco	42	0.00%	14	6	7	15
213	Andorra	36	0.00%	29	7	0	0
214	Gibraltar	29	0.00%	7	8	6	8
215	Wallis & Futura Islands	25	0.00%	0	25	0	0
216	Liechtenstein	24	0.00%	9	6	1	8
217	Palau	18	0.00%	0	18	0	0
218	American Samoa	17	0.00%	0	17	0	0
219	French Southern & Antarctic Lands	15	0.00%	0	15	0	0
220	Bermuda	14	0.00%	0	14	0	0
221	Christmas Island	12	0.00%	12	0	0	0
222	Norfolk Island	10	0.00%	0	10	0	0
	Total	21600760	100.00%	2653200	4432469	7263728	4676472

The various road types greatly impact how road maps look in different regions.

Due to the extensive network of highways, primary and secondary roads in North America, the roads in the United States and Canada are marked with a white-yellow hue.

In Mexico, the majority of the country’s road network is made up of tertiary and local roads, which gives the map a distinct red tint.

In Europe, there are still remnants of the Cold War divisions reflected in the colors white, yellow, and red. The countries of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom are shown mainly as white and yellow on the map. Meanwhile, the former Eastern Bloc countries appear more in red.

The differences between North America and Europe are especially noticeable in the ratio of lengths of roads to railroads.

According to the Global Roads Inventory Project, North America, Europe, and China have more main roads (highways and primary), while the majority of the world has a greater proportion of secondary (yellow) and local tertiary (red) roads. However, some countries in the Middle East (Bahrain, Kuwait, Bhutan, Qatar, Suriname) have the highest percentage of main roads.

The length of a country’s roads is closely positively correlated with its land surface area, population density, and gross domestic product.

Out of all the correlations, population density is the most noticeable in larger world maps, like the one of Asia shown here.

The two regions with the highest population in the world are the Indian subcontinent and Eastern China, which together make up about 35% of the global population. The areas with the highest population, particularly in China, have developed more roads to accommodate the growth of cities and urban areas.

In contrast, Africa and Australia have vast natural features such as deserts that hinder human settlements. As a result, roads are not visible in the visualization.

In South America, rainforests are a serious obstacle to road construction, but unfortunately, the road network is developing there as well, posing a threat to unique biodiversity.