| Location | Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean on the east, North Pacific Ocean on the west, and the Arctic Ocean on the north, north of the conterminous US |
| Geographic coordinates | 60 00 N, 95 00 W |
| Map references | North America |
| Area | total: 9,984,670 sq km land: 9,093,507 sq km water: 891,163 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than the US |
| Land boundaries | total: 8,891 km border countries (3): US 8,891 km (includes 2,475 km with Alaska) note: Canada is the world's largest country that borders only one country |
| Coastline | 202,080 km note: the Canadian Arctic Archipelago - consisting of 36,563 islands, several of them some of the world's largest - contributes to Canada easily having the longest coastline in the world |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
| Climate | varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north |
| Terrain | mostly plains with mountains in west, lowlands in southeast |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Mount Logan 5,959 m lowest point: Atlantic/Pacific/Arctic Oceans 0 m mean elevation: 487 m |
| Natural resources | bauxite, iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, uranium, rare earth elements, molybdenum, potash, diamonds, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas, hydropower |
| Land use | agricultural land: 6.8% (2018 est.) arable land: 4.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 1.6% (2018 est.) forest: 34.1% (2018 est.) other: 59.1% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 8,700 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 2.902 trillion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | continuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development; cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow east of the mountains volcanism: the vast majority of volcanoes in Western Canada's Coast Mountains remain dormant |
| Geography - note | note 1: second-largest country in world (after Russia) and largest in the Americas; strategic location between Russia and US via north polar route; approximately 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km (100 mi) of the US border note 2: Canada has more fresh water than any other country and almost 9% of Canadian territory is water; Canada has at least 2 million and possibly over 3 million lakes - that is more than all other countries combined |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
