Canada is a North American nation. With 10 provinces and three territories stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific and farther north into the Arctic, it is the second-largest country in the world in terms of total area and has the longest coastline. The world’s longest international land border is with the United States. There is great variation in the country’s geological and meteorological regions. With 40 million inhabitants, it is a sparsely populated country, with the great majority living in metropolitan regions south of the 55th parallel. The three biggest cities in Canada are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. The country’s capital is Ottawa.