Ghana vs Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is 94% larger than Ghana. Ghana would fit into Papua New Guinea about 1.9 times.

GhanaPapua New GuineaGhana moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
0.52×
Ghana is 0.52× the area of Papua New Guinea. Put the other way, Papua New Guinea is 1.94× the size of Ghana.
GhanaPapua New Guinea
Area238,535 km²462,840 km²
Population35,064,27210,762,817
Density147 / km²23 / km²
CapitalAccraPort Moresby
RegionWestern AfricaMelanesia
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours31

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Ghana sits at about 8°N and is stretched to 1.02× 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 Ghana bigger than Papua New Guinea?
No. Ghana is 48% smaller than Papua New Guinea. Ghana covers 238,535 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
How many times does Ghana fit into Papua New Guinea?
About 1.9 times: Papua New Guinea has 1.94× the area of Ghana.
Why do Ghana and Papua New Guinea look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Ghana is drawn about 1.02× 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, Ghana or Papua New Guinea?
Ghana: 35,064,272 people against 10,762,817. Density: Ghana 147 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².