Land area is defined as area excluding the lakes and other waterways). Sudan has a total area of 2,505,810 sq km, which is made up of 2,376,000 sq km of land and 129,810 sq km of water.

In total area Sudan is the 10th largest country in the world (16th if territories such as Antarctica and oceans are included). Although the land area is quite large only 7% of it, or 164,330 sq km, is arable land (suitable for growing crops). Much of the remaining land is desert, especially in the north and some of the dry areas are becoming desert. Most of the towns and cities in Sudan are located along the Nile river or one of its tributaries, however Sudan has inadequate supplies of clean drinking water.

Size is an important indicator of a lot of other features of a country. Apart from allowing a greater population, it is also a factor in biodiversity. The 12 megadiverse countries (Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru and the US) combine the features of a large size and a temperate or tropical location. Only two countries - Madagascar and Ecuador - do not have a land area more than one million sq kms, and only Ecuador is not in the top 50 countries with the largest land area, although it does lie between Peru and Colombia. Although large, Russia and Canada lie too far north to house a large diversity of life.