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RWC 2019 is to have twenty competitors. Those competing in Japan later this year come from all corners of the globe. The East Asian country will be the setting for a World Cup involving teams from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America.
The twenty competitors represent a vast range of countries in terms of area sizes. The world’s three largest countries, Russia, Canada, and the USA, will all compete but so to will the 190th in area size, Tonga.
The Americas account for four of the twenty teams at RWC 2019. Of them three of them are among the largest five countries, in terms of area size, who will compete in Japan. The smallest is Uruguay which is the 12th overall among the 20 competing countries.
Technically there are not 20 countries but, rather, 16 countries and 4 unions. That is to say that the Home Unions are not sovereign states per se. The accepted definition in global politics of a sovereign state is being a member of the United Nations (UN).
There are 193 UN member states, meaning there are officially 193 countries in the world today. Competing in RWC 2019 but not being members of the UN are England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
The four unions are represented in the UN by the sovereign states of (a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and (b) the Republic of Ireland.
Despite the Olympic Games utilizing the two above countries as the model in their global competition other sporting entities do not do so. Soccer, for instance, has five competing nations from the two sovereign states – England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
World Rugby has four with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland competing as one. Together they form the union of Ireland which represents all territory of the island of Ireland. England, Scotland, and Wales are the same for both soccer and rugby.
World Rugby’s definition of the Home Unions means that the area size of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are added together for the following analysis. As such the area size given is the combination of the two. The Republic of Ireland has 70,287 sq km while Northern Ireland has an area of 14,130 sq km. Combined they come in as 14th in total area of RWC 2019 competitors.
| RANKING | COUNTRY | AREA SIZE | COMPARISON |
| 1 | Russia | 17,098,242 sq km | approx 1.8 times the size of the USA |
| 2 | Canada | 9,984,670 sq km | slightly larger than the USA |
| 3 | USA | 9,833,517 sq km | slightly larger than Brazil |
| 4 | Australia | 7,741,220 sq km | slightly smaller than the 48 contiguous US states |
| 5 | Argentina | 2,780,400 sq km | slightly less than three-tenths the size of the USA |
| 6 | South Africa | 1,219,090 sq km | slightly less than 2x the size of Texas |
| 7 | Namibia | 824,292 sq km | slightly less than Texas + Louisiana combined |
| 8 | France | 643,801 sq km | slightly smaller than Texas |
| 9 | Japan | 377,915 sq km | slightly smaller than California |
| 10 | Italy | 301,340 sq km | slightly larger than Arizona |
| 11 | New Zealand | 268,527 sq km | similar to Colorado |
| 12 | Uruguay | 176,220 sq km | similar to Virginia + West Virginia combined |
| 13 | England | 130,395 sq km | slightly smaller than Louisiana |
| 14 | Ireland | 84,421 sq km | slightly smaller than Maine |
| 15 | Scotland | 80,077 sq km | slightly smaller than South Carolina |
| 16 | Georgia | 69,700 sq km | slightly larger than West Virginia |
| 17 | Wales | 20,735 sq km | slightly smaller than New Jersey |
| 18 | Fiji | 18,274 sq km | slightly smaller than New Jersey |
| 19 | Samoa | 2,831 sq km | slightly smaller than Rhode Island |
| 20 | Tonga | 747 sq km | 4x size of Washington DC |
