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According to the Forbes article "This Land is My Land," Mr. Ted Turner individually owns the most land in the United States, which probably makes him the person who owns more land in the world. Turner's holdings are comprise roughly 1,800,000 acres spread across half a dozen states. Probably some Sheik or Emir in the Middle East owns more land but that would be hard to know for sure. According to the journalism research group FacsNet, the federal government owns 624 million acres, or 27 percent of the US land.

Another big player in real-estate globally is the Catholic Church, at least until the 80s it was the biggest land owner in Europe, and a big player in most countries in the world (think about it, every church, catholic school, convent or monastery...plus the lands that they own as an investment). So the Pope, could be one of the biggest land owners in the world.