Size comparison

How big is it really? Compare countries

Pick any two countries and see how many times one fits into the other. Below are the comparisons people look up most, each with both shapes drawn at their true size on one map.

Compare two countries

First country Second country

The number counts area, not shape: on a real map the smaller one would have to be cut up to fill the bigger one exactly.

The most searched comparisons

Why do maps get sizes wrong?

Most world maps on walls and in apps use the Mercator projection. It keeps shapes and directions right, which is why sailors loved it, but it stretches everything the further it is from the equator. Greenland looks as big as Africa on such a map, even though Africa is about fourteen times bigger.

The drawing on this page uses an equal-area projection centred on each place, so the two shapes can be compared fairly.

How big is a square kilometre?

A square kilometre (km²) is a square that measures one kilometre on each side. About 140 football pitches fit into it. So a country of 40 000 km² is as big as 40 000 such squares put together – that is more than five million football pitches.

Big country, many people?

Being big does not mean having many people. Canada is one of the largest countries on Earth, but much of it is forest, tundra and ice, and far fewer people live there than in much smaller countries such as Germany or Japan.

Compared with home

Every country page also shows how big that country is compared with the countries this language is spoken in most, with both shapes on one map.