Australia vs China

China is 25% larger than Australia.

AustraliaChinaAustralia moved onto China · Equal-area projection
0.8×
Australia is 0.8× the area of China. Put the other way, China is 1.25× the size of Australia.
AustraliaChina
Area7,692,024 km²9,596,961 km²
Population27,614,4111,406,585,000
Density3.6 / km²147 / km²
CapitalCanberraBeijing
RegionAustralia and New ZealandEastern Asia
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours017

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Australia sits at about 26°S and is stretched to 1.23× its true area; China at 37° N is stretched to 1.56×. Here the two are distorted about the same amount, so Mercator gets this pair roughly right. The figure above uses the Equal Earth projection, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.

Questions about this pair

Is Australia bigger than China?
No. Australia is 20% smaller than China. Australia covers 7,692,024 km² and China covers 9,596,961 km².
How many times does Australia fit into China?
About 1.2 times: China has 1.25× the area of Australia.
Why do Australia and China look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Australia is drawn about 1.23× its true area there and China about 1.56×. For this pair the distortion is similar, so Mercator gets the comparison roughly right. Kartavera uses Equal Earth, where every square kilometre is drawn the same size.
Which has more people, Australia or China?
China: 1,406,585,000 people against 27,614,411. Density: Australia 3.6 per km², China 147 per km².