Belgium at its true size

Where Belgium ranks

Among the independent states, in 44 rankings. Each links to its table.

Countries of a similar size

Every country within 25% of Belgium’s area, lit up on the map →

• Lesotho1.01×Belgium and Lesotho are almost exactly the same size.
• Armenia1.03×Belgium is 3% larger than Armenia.
• Albania1.07×Belgium is 7% larger than Albania.
• Solomon Islands1.08×Belgium is 8% larger than Solomon Islands.
• Equatorial Guinea1.09×Belgium is 9% larger than Equatorial Guinea.
• Burundi1.1×Belgium is 10% larger than Burundi.

How many times does Belgium fit into…

• Russia: about 556 times
• Canada: about 325 times
• United States: about 320 times

The land itself

Rivers, summits and lakes Belgium shares with the rest of the world. Turn on “Rivers & lakes” and “Physical names” in the atlas to see them on the map.

Rivers are listed by the published length of their whole course, not the part inside Belgium. Figures from Wikidata, features from Natural Earth.

Neighbours

• Francecompare 0.05×
• Germanycompare 0.09×
• Netherlandscompare 0.73×
• Luxembourgcompare 11.8×

Questions about Belgium

How big is Belgium?

Belgium covers 30,688 km², which makes it number 137 of 194 countries by area. About 11,941,781 people live there (2025), 389 per km².

Is Belgium bigger than Lesotho?

Belgium and Lesotho are almost exactly the same size. Belgium: 30,688 km²; Lesotho: 30,355 km².

How much does the Mercator map distort Belgium?

At about 51° latitude, Mercator stretches Belgium to roughly 2.49× its true area relative to a country on the equator. Kartavera draws it in the Equal Earth projection, where areas are exact.

Which countries border Belgium?

Belgium shares a land border with France, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg.