North Korea vs Syria
Syria is 54% larger than North Korea. North Korea would fit into Syria about 1.5 times.
North KoreaSyriaNorth Korea moved onto Syria · Equal-area projection
0.65×
North Korea is 0.65× the area of Syria. Put the other way, Syria is 1.54× the size of North Korea.
| North Korea | Syria | |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 120,540 km² | 185,180 km² |
| Population | 26,571,036 | 25,620,427 |
| Density | 220 / km² | 138 / km² |
| Capital | Pyongyang | Damascus |
| Region | Eastern Asia | Western Asia |
| Coastline | Has a coast | Has a coast |
| Neighbours | 3 | 5 |
Why the map you grew up with disagrees
On a Mercator map, area grows with distance from the equator. North Korea sits at about 40°N and is stretched to 1.71× its true area; Syria at 35° N is stretched to 1.49×. 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 North Korea bigger than Syria?
- No. North Korea is 35% smaller than Syria. North Korea covers 120,540 km² and Syria covers 185,180 km².
- How many times does North Korea fit into Syria?
- About 1.5 times: Syria has 1.54× the area of North Korea.
- Why do North Korea and Syria look different on Google Maps?
- Web maps use the Mercator projection, which stretches area with distance from the equator. North Korea is drawn about 1.71× its true area there and Syria about 1.49×. 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, North Korea or Syria?
- North Korea: 26,571,036 people against 25,620,427. Density: North Korea 220 per km², Syria 138 per km².