The reason the U.S. territory has become larger is mainly due to the increased size of the Great Lakes region of North America.

North America's Great Lakes is the world's largest group of freshwater lakes, the Great Lakes is Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and other five connected lakes in general, there is a "Mediterranean Sea in North America. North America's Great Lakes in addition to Lake Michigan belongs to the United States, the remaining four lakes are in the United States and Canada between the borders.

According to the rules of the world's territorial area ranking, the ocean is not included in the national territory, but the rivers and lakes within the land to be counted in the continental area. Counting the Great Lakes growth of the lake area, the United States of America's land territory reached 9,834,000 square kilometers, the United States of America's land area than China's large data is indeed larger than China's land area.

Expanded information:

In the case of the United States: the native land area of about 9.16 million square kilometers. Inland waters cover about 200,000 square kilometers, the U.S. sovereign portion of the Great Lakes covers about 170,000 square kilometers, coastal waters such as estuaries, harbors, and inland seas cover about 100,000 square kilometers, and territorial waters cover about 200,000 square kilometers.

Thus, the 9.37 million figure is the result of adding the area of inland waters, 9.63 million is the result of adding the U.S. sovereign portion of the Great Lakes and the area of inland waters, and the 9.82 million square kilometers, which has been promoted more by U.S. agencies since 2000, is the result of adding the area of territorial sea (the cumulative data is slightly different due to the fact that numbers have been retained in round numbers- -Editor's note).

China's 9.6 million square kilometers, on the other hand, includes only internal waters, not territorial waters. Comparing the two different algorithms makes the United States the "third largest country in the world," a phrase that has even found its way into U.S. elementary and middle school textbooks.

Baidu Encyclopedia - U.S. Territory

People's Daily Online - U.S. Claims Area Larger Than China