Namibia vs Papua New Guinea

Namibia is 78% larger than Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea would fit into Namibia about 1.8 times.

NamibiaPapua New GuineaNamibia moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
1.78×
Namibia is 1.78× the area of Papua New Guinea.
NamibiaPapua New Guinea
Area825,615 km²462,840 km²
Population3,092,81610,762,817
Density3.7 / km²23 / km²
CapitalWindhoekPort Moresby
RegionSouthern AfricaMelanesia
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours41

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. Namibia sits at about 22°S and is stretched to 1.16× 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 Namibia bigger than Papua New Guinea?
Yes. Namibia is 78% larger than Papua New Guinea. Namibia covers 825,615 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
How many times does Papua New Guinea fit into Namibia?
About 1.8 times: Namibia has 1.78× the area of Papua New Guinea.
Why do Namibia and Papua New Guinea look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. Namibia is drawn about 1.16× 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, Namibia or Papua New Guinea?
Papua New Guinea: 10,762,817 people against 3,092,816. Density: Namibia 3.7 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².