How big is China compared with the United States?
China and the United States are almost the same size: 9 706 961 km² against 9 372 610 km².
How many times does it fit?
The United States would not even fit into China twice – the two are closer in size than most maps make them look. 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.
Which has more people?
China has 1.4 billion people, the United States has 326.7 million people. China is more crowded: about 143 people share each square kilometre, against 35 in the United States.
The two side by side
China
- Capital
- Beijing
- Continent
- Asia
- Area
- 9 706 961 km²
- People
- 1.4 billion
United States
- Capital
- Washington D.C.
- Continent
- Americas
- Area
- 9 372 610 km²
- People
- 326.7 million
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.
Questions children ask
How big is China compared with the United States?
China and the United States are almost the same size: 9 706 961 km² against 9 372 610 km².
How many times does the United States fit into China?
The United States would not even fit into China twice – the two are closer in size than most maps make them look.
Where do more people live, in China or in the United States?
China has 1.4 billion people, the United States has 326.7 million people.
Why does the size look different on a normal world map?
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.
Where these numbers come from
Areas: world-countries (ISO 3166, Natural Earth); continents rounded to textbook values, Europe to the Urals. Population: World Bank, 2018. Outlines: Natural Earth.
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