Québec has an area which is more than three times that of France and more than 40 times that of Switzerland. The concentration of privately-owned property lies mainly in the southern part of the province along the fleuve Saint-Laurent and in several regions further north. The remainder, more is public land. This vast area represents Québec's main basin of natural resources.

Québec's territory: (PDF format, 1,5 mb)

• Covers 1,667,441 km²;
• Has more than 10,000 km of borders
• Comprises lands, freshwater bodies and courses, and a marine environment that takes in the fleuve Saint-Laurent and the golfe Saint-Laurent as well as the coastline of Baie James, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, and Ungava Bay.

Public Land:

• Covers more than 92% of the territory, which includes:
  • land and inland water: 1,396,969 km²
  • a marine environment:  153,562 km²
• Lies mainly in the center and northern parts of Québec, which are sparsely populated
• Constitutes a major heritage, exceptional natural environment, and basin of natural resources essential to the socioeconomic development of all regions of Québec.

Privately-owned Land:

• Covers nearly 8% of the territory (116,910 km²);
• Is located in southern Québec, which contains most of the population lives in the lowlands of the Saint-Laurent, around Gaspésie and Lac Saint-Jean, and in Abitibi;
• Is subdivided into nearly 3.5 million lots represented by the cadastre.