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New Caledonia vs Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is 24.9 times larger than New Caledonia. New Caledonia would fit into Papua New Guinea about 25 times.

New CaledoniaPapua New GuineaNew Caledonia moved onto Papua New Guinea · Equal-area projection
0.04×
New Caledonia is 0.04× the area of Papua New Guinea. Put the other way, Papua New Guinea is 24.9× the size of New Caledonia.
New CaledoniaPapua New Guinea
Area18,576 km²462,840 km²
Population295,33310,762,817
Density16 / km²23 / km²
CapitalNoum'eaPort Moresby
RegionMelanesiaMelanesia
CoastlineHas a coastHas a coast
Neighbours01

Why the map you grew up with disagrees

On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. New Caledonia sits at about 21°S and is stretched to 1.15× 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.

Open in the atlasLay Papua New Guinea over New Caledonia

Questions about this pair

Is New Caledonia bigger than Papua New Guinea?
No. New Caledonia is 24.9 times smaller than Papua New Guinea. New Caledonia covers 18,576 km² and Papua New Guinea covers 462,840 km².
How many times does New Caledonia fit into Papua New Guinea?
About 25 times: Papua New Guinea has 24.9× the area of New Caledonia.
Why do New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea look different on Google Maps?
Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. New Caledonia is drawn about 1.15× 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, New Caledonia or Papua New Guinea?
Papua New Guinea: 10,762,817 people against 295,333. Density: New Caledonia 16 per km², Papua New Guinea 23 per km².
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