Costa Rica vs Peru
Peru is 25.1 times larger than Costa Rica. Costa Rica would fit into Peru about 25 times.
Costa RicaPeruCosta Rica moved onto Peru · Equal-area projection
0.04×
Costa Rica is 0.04× the area of Peru. Put the other way, Peru is 25.1× the size of Costa Rica.
| Costa Rica | Peru | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 51,180 km² | 1,285,216 km² |
| Population | 5,152,950 | 34,576,665 |
| Density | 101 / km² | 27 / km² |
| Capital | San Jose | Lima |
| Region | Central America | South America |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 2 | 5 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Costa Rica sits at about 10°N and is stretched to 1.03× its true area; Peru at 9° S is stretched to 1.03×. 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 Costa Rica bigger than Peru?
- No. Costa Rica is 25.1 times smaller than Peru. Costa Rica covers 51,180 km² and Peru covers 1,285,216 km².
- How many times does Costa Rica fit into Peru?
- About 25 times: Peru has 25.1× the area of Costa Rica.
- Why do Costa Rica and Peru look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Costa Rica is drawn about 1.03× its true area there and Peru about 1.03×. 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, Costa Rica or Peru?
- Peru: 34,576,665 people against 5,152,950. Density: Costa Rica 101 per km², Peru 27 per km².