China has a Larger ‘Effective Territory’ than Russia, Beijing Analysts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 13 – If one considers only the total square miles of countries within their borders, the Russian Federation is the largest state on earth; but if one considers what geographers call their respective “effective territories,” that is the areas that in fact can be used, China is larger than Russia by far, according to a Beijing commentator.

            China has the largest population of any country and is the third largest in total area, behind the Russian Federation and Canada; and thus can be counted as a large country, according to Beijing’s NetEase portal which adds that in terms of effective territory, it is the largest on that measure as well (inosmi.ru/social/20190913/245816567.html).

            Russia and Canada are very large countries territorially with very small populations, the size of which reflects in part climatic conditions covering much of their land that make permanent human habitation difficult.  According to the portal, “only six million square kilometers of Russia” and only 500,000 square kilometers of Canada are fit for human habitation – and thus their effective territories.

            China on the other hand has far more people but also far more effective land area, some seven million square kilometers in all, making it larger than Russia not only in terms of population as everyone knows but also in terms of effective territory as well.  Given how obsessive Russians are abut size, this is a statistic few of them will find comforting.