How big is Iceland compared with the United States?
The United States is about 91 times as big as Iceland: 9 372 610 km² against 103 000 km².
How many times does it fit?
Iceland would fit into the United States about 91 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?
Iceland has 353 000 people, the United States has 326.7 million people. Iceland is emptier: about 3 people share each square kilometre, against 35 in the United States.
The two side by side
Iceland
- Capital
- Reykjavik
- Continent
- Europe
- Area
- 103 000 km²
- People
- 353 000
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. Iceland lies further from the equator than the United States, 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 Iceland compared with the United States?
The United States is about 91 times as big as Iceland: 9 372 610 km² against 103 000 km².
How many times does Iceland fit into the United States?
Iceland would fit into the United States about 91 times.
Where do more people live, in Iceland or in the United States?
Iceland has 353 000 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. Iceland lies further from the equator than the United States, 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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