What is the third largest continent by area in the world?

North America is the third largest continent by area. It is a continent that covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles). It has about 16.5% of the earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface.

North America consists of at least twenty three (23) dependent territories, which include: Anguilla (UK), Aruba (Netherlands), Bermuda (UK), Bonaire (Netherlands), British Virgin Islands (UK), Cayman Islands (UK), Clipperton Island (France), Curaçao (Netherlands), Greenland (Denmark), Guadeloupe (France), Martinique (France), Montserrat (UK), Navassa (USA), Puerto Rico (USA), Saba (Netherlands), Saint Barthélemy (France), Saint Martin (France), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France), Sint Eustatius (Netherlands), Sint Maarten (Netherlands), Turks and Caicos Islands (UK), U.S. Virgin Islands (USA), and Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark), physio-graphically a part of North America.

Notwithstanding the size of the land area of North america, it can be noted that the population of the continent in 2016 was estimated at nearly 579 million people or about 8.7% of the world's population. North America has been and remains the fourth largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe.