Lesotho vs Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is 15.2 times larger than Lesotho. Lesotho would fit into Papua New Guinea about 15 times.
LesothoPapua New GuineaLesotho moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
0.07×
Lesotho is 0.07× the area of Papua New Guinea. Put the other way, Papua New Guinea is 15.2× the size of Lesotho.
| Lesotho | Papua New Guinea | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 30,355 km² | 462,840 km² |
| Population | 2,363,325 | 10,762,817 |
| Density | 78 / km² | 23 / km² |
| Capital | Maseru | Port Moresby |
| Region | Southern Africa | Melanesia |
| Coastline | Landlocked | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 1 | 1 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Lesotho sits at about 30°S and is stretched to 1.32× 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 Lesotho bigger than Papua New Guinea?
- No. Lesotho is 15.2 times smaller than Papua New Guinea. Lesotho covers 30,355 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
- How many times does Lesotho fit into Papua New Guinea?
- About 15 times: Papua New Guinea has 15.2× the area of Lesotho.
- Why do Lesotho and Papua New Guinea look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Lesotho is drawn about 1.32× 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, Lesotho or Papua New Guinea?
- Papua New Guinea: 10,762,817 people against 2,363,325. Density: Lesotho 78 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².