Country rankings of the type presented below cannot pretend to be definitive; instead they aspire only to provide the reader with an approximation of the high and low ends on a particular scale. Country data vary enormously depending on the sources, and the absence of reliable data on some countries requires their omission, which further skews the results.


LARGEST COUNTRIES1 (in sq mi):* 2006

1. Russia -----------6,592,735
2. Canada ---------- 3,855,081
3. United States ---- 3,718,691
4. China ----------- 3,705,386
5. Brazil ------------ 3,286,470
6. Australia --------- 2,967,893
7. India ------------ 1,269,338
8. Argentina -------- 1,068,296
9. Kazakhstan -------1,049,150
10. Sudan ------------ 967,493


SMALLEST COUNTRIES1 (in sq mi):* 2006

1. Vatican City ----------- 0.17
2. Monaco --------------- 0.75
3. Nauru ----------------- 8.11
4. Tuvalu --------------- 10.04
5. San Marino ------------ 23.63
6. Liechtenstein ---------- 61.78
7. Saint Kitts and Nevis ---100.77
8. Maldives -------------- 115.83
9. Malta ----------------- 122.01
10. Grenada ------------- 132.82


HIGHEST POPULATION DENSITY2 (per sq mi): 2006†

1. Monaco --------------- 42,143
2. Singapore ------------- 18,645
3. Malta ----------------- 3,229
4. Maldives -------------- 3,099
5. Bahrain ---------------- 2,923
6. Bangladesh ------------ 2,850
7. Taiwan ---------------- 1,849
8. Mauritius -------------- 1,738
9. Barbados ------------- 1,686
10. Nauru ---------------- 1,639


LOWEST POPULATION DENSITY2 (per sq mi): 2006†


1. Western Sahara ------ 2.7
2. Mongolia ------------- 4.7
3. Namibia -------------- 6.4
4. Australia ------------- 6.9
5. Suriname ------------ 7.0
6. Botswana ------------ 7.3
7. Iceland -------------- 7.7
8. Mauritania ----------- 8.0
9. Libya ---------------- 8.7
10. Canada ------------- 9.3


HIGHEST GDP PER CAPITA1 (PPP in U.S. dollars): 2006

1. Luxembourg -------------- $68,800
2. Equatorial Guinea --------- 50,200
3. United Arab Emirates ------ 49,700
4. Norway ------------------- 47,800
5. Ireland ------------------- 43,600
6. United States ------------ 43,500
7. Iceland ------------------ 38,100
8. Denmark ----------------- 37,000
9. Canada ------------------ 35,200
10. San Marino -------------- 34,600


LOWEST GDP PER CAPITA1 (PPP in U.S. dollars): 2006

1. Comoros ------------ $600
2. Somalia -------------- 600
3. Malawi --------------- 600
4. Burundi --------------- 700
5. Congo, Democratic Republic of the 700
6. East Timor ------------ $800
7. Tanzania ------------- 800
8. Afghanistan ----------- 800
9. Madagascar ----------- 900
10. Guinea-Bissau -------- 900
11. Sierra Leone ---------- 900
12. Yemen --------------- 900


HIGHEST INFLATION:1 2006

1. Zimbabwe ---------- 976.4%
2. Iraq ---------------- 50.0
3. Guinea -------------- 27.0
4. Burma --------------- 21.4
5. Afghanistan ---------- 16.3
6. Iran ----------------- 15.8
7. Venezuela ----------- 15.8
8. Serbia --------------- 15.5
9. Malawi --------------- 15.1
10. Liberia -------------- 15.0


LOWEST INFLATION:1 2006


1. Nauru ------------ –3.6%
2. San Marino ------- –1.7
3. Vanuatu ---------- –1.6
4. Barbados --------- –0.5
5. Dominica ---------- –0.1
6. Niger -------------- 0.2
7. Japan ------------- 0.4
8. Kiribati ------------ 0.5
9. Seychelles --------- 0.7
10. Antigua and Barbuda --- 0.9


HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY2 (in years): 2006


1. Andorra ------------ 83.5
2. San Marino --------- 81.7
Singapore ----------- 81.7
3. Japan -------------- 81.2
4. Australia ----------- 80.5
Sweden ------------- 80.5
Switzerland ---------- 80.5
5. Iceland ------------- 80.3
6. Canada ------------- 80.2
7. Italy ---------------- 79.8


LOWEST LIFE EXPECTANCY2 (in years): 2006

1. Swaziland ------------- 32.6
2. Botswana ------------- 33.7
3. Lesotho -------------- 34.4
4. Angola --------------- 38.6
5. Zimbabwe ------------ 39.3
6. Liberia --------------- 39.6
7. Mozambique ---------- 39.8
8. Zambia --------------- 40.0
9. Sierra Leone ---------- 40.2
10. Malawi --------------- 41.7


LOWEST LITERACY RATES: 1990


1. Burkina Faso ------------- 18%
2. Eritrea1 ------------------ 20
3. Sierra Leone -------------- 21
4. Benin --------------------- 23
5. Guinea -------------------- 24
Somalia -------------------- 24
7. Sudan -------------------- 27
Gambia --------------------- 27
9. Ethiopia7 ----------------- 28
Niger ----------------------- 28