Australia vs Papua New Guinea

Australia is 16.6 times larger than Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea would fit into Australia about 17 times.

AustraliaPapua New GuineaAustralia moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
16.6×
Australia is 16.6× the area of Papua New Guinea.
AustraliaPapua New Guinea
Area7,692,024 km²462,840 km²
Population27,614,41110,762,817
Density3.6 / km²23 / km²
CapitalCanberraPort Moresby
RegionAustralia and New ZealandMelanesia
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours01

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; Papua New Guinea at 6° S is stretched to 1.01×. 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 Papua New Guinea?
Yes. Australia is 16.6 times larger than Papua New Guinea. Australia covers 7,692,024 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
How many times does Papua New Guinea fit into Australia?
About 17 times: Australia has 16.6× the area of Papua New Guinea.
Why do Australia and Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea about 1.01×. 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 Papua New Guinea?
Australia: 27,614,411 people against 10,762,817. Density: Australia 3.6 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².