Malaysia vs Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is 40% larger than Malaysia.
MalaysiaPapua New GuineaMalaysia moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
0.71×
Malaysia is 0.71× the area of Papua New Guinea. Put the other way, Papua New Guinea is 1.4× the size of Malaysia.
| Malaysia | Papua New Guinea | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 330,803 km² | 462,840 km² |
| Population | 35,977,838 | 10,762,817 |
| Density | 109 / km² | 23 / km² |
| Capital | Kuala Lumpur | Port Moresby |
| Region | South-Eastern Asia | Melanesia |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 3 | 1 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Malaysia sits at about 4°N and is stretched to 1.0× 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 Malaysia bigger than Papua New Guinea?
- No. Malaysia is 29% smaller than Papua New Guinea. Malaysia covers 330,803 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
- How many times does Malaysia fit into Papua New Guinea?
- About 1.4 times: Papua New Guinea has 1.4× the area of Malaysia.
- Why do Malaysia and Papua New Guinea look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Malaysia is drawn about 1.0× 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, Malaysia or Papua New Guinea?
- Malaysia: 35,977,838 people against 10,762,817. Density: Malaysia 109 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².