How big is Costa Rica compared with the United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom is about 4.8 times as big as Costa Rica: 242 900 km² against 51 100 km².
How many times does it fit?
Costa Rica would fit into the United Kingdom about 4 times. 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?
Costa Rica has 5 million people, the United Kingdom has 66.5 million people. Costa Rica is emptier: about 98 people share each square kilometre, against 274 in the United Kingdom.
The two side by side
Costa Rica
- Capital
- San José
- Continent
- Americas
- Area
- 51 100 km²
- People
- 5 million
United Kingdom
- Capital
- London
- Continent
- Europe
- Area
- 242 900 km²
- People
- 66.5 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 United Kingdom lies further from the equator than Costa Rica, so on a wall map it looks bigger than it really is.
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 Costa Rica compared with the United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom is about 4.8 times as big as Costa Rica: 242 900 km² against 51 100 km².
How many times does Costa Rica fit into the United Kingdom?
Costa Rica would fit into the United Kingdom about 4 times.
Where do more people live, in Costa Rica or in the United Kingdom?
Costa Rica has 5 million people, the United Kingdom has 66.5 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. The United Kingdom lies further from the equator than Costa Rica, so on a wall map it looks bigger than it really is.
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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