One of South America's two landlocked countries, Paraguay has a total area of 406,750 sq km (157,047 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Paraguay is slightly smaller than the state of California. The western 246,925 sq km (95,338 sq mi) of the country constitute a dry, sparsely populated region known as the Chaco, while the remaining 159,827 sq km (61,709 sq mi) lie in the more verdant east. Paraguay extends 992 km (616 mi) SSE – NNW and 491 km (305 mi) ENE – WSW . Bounded on the NE and E by Brazil, on the SE , S , and W by Argentina, and on the NW and N by Bolivia, Paraguay has a total boundary length of 3,920 km (2,436 mi).
Paraguay's capital city, Asunción, is located in the southwestern part of the country.