Australia

Australia’s 7,692,024 km² places it seventh, yet it is the only nation on this list that is also a continent, with an area 2.3 times larger than #8 India. Its arid interior, the Outback, covers roughly 70% of the landmass, totaling about 5.4 million km² of desert or semi-desert. This makes Australia drier than the average large country, with less than 1% of its area under permanent cultivation. By comparison, the United States has 17.5 times more arable land, despite being only 24% larger overall.