State of Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is a state of Brazil. It covers about 44,000 km² (17,000 mi²), the 24th largest of the 27 states and districts in Natural Earth’s file for Brazil, and 1.03× the size of Denmark. About 16.1 million people live there (Wikidata, 2022).
100 km
- Rio de Janeiro
- Denmark
Facts
| Area, measured | 44,000 km²17,000 mi² |
|---|---|
| Official area | 43,700 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure |
| Share of Brazil | 0.5%of the area of the 27 states and districts |
| Rank by area | 24th of 27states and districts of Brazil |
| Population | 16.1 millionWikidata, 2022 · the census year of every unit |
| Density | 365 people per km² |
| Capital | Rio de Janeiro |
| Latitude range | 23°S to 21°S |
| Type | StateBR-RJ |
What the numbers say about Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro covers 0.5% of the area of Brazil and ranks 3rd of 27 by population, against 24th by area.
- It would take 193 states and districts the size of Rio de Janeiro to cover Brazil.
- Rio de Janeiro holds 7.9% of the 203.1 million people that Wikidata’s 2022 figures give for the 27 states and districts together: about 1 in 13.
- The largest, Amazonas, is 35.6× the size of Rio de Janeiro; the smallest, Federal District, is 13% of it.
- Closest in size within Brazil: Espírito Santo (45,800 km², 1.04×) and Rio Grande do Norte (52,800 km², 1.20×).
- Counted as a country, Rio de Janeiro would be larger than 107 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 133rd by area, between Estonia (45,800 km²) and Denmark (42,700 km²).
- With 16.1 million people it would rank 74th of 238 by population.
- Rio de Janeiro has 365 people per km², about the density of the Philippines, which has 384 per km².
- That makes Rio de Janeiro the 2nd most densely populated of the 27 states and districts, 15.2× the average for Brazil (24 per km²).
- Rio de Janeiro lies at 22°S, close to the equator, where a standard web map (Web Mercator) is nearly true to size: it inflates area by only about 1.2×.
- Laid out flat, Rio de Janeiro stretches about 288 km north to south and 401 km east to west.
- Wikidata's official figure of 43,700 km² agrees with our measured area of 44,000 km², to within 2%.
About the same size as
Beside the regions of other countries
The closest region by area and by people in each of the other countries that have regional pages here, within a factor of 2. All 395 regions side by side.
- ChinaAreaNingxia84% · 52,100 km²PeopleTianjin1.16× · 13.9 million (2020)
- United StatesAreaWest Virginia70% · 62,700 km²PeoplePennsylvania1.23× · 13.0 million (2020)
- IndiaAreaHaryana1.00× · 43,900 km²PeopleDelhi0.96× · 16.8 million (2011)
- GermanyAreaLower Saxony0.92× · 47,600 km²PeopleNorth Rhine-Westphalia90% · 17.9 million (2022)
- FranceAreaBourgogne-Franche-Comté0.92× · 48,000 km²PeopleÎle-de-France1.30× · 12.4 million (2022)
- ItalyAreaSicily (Italy)1.70× · 25,900 km²PeopleLombardy1.59× · 10.1 million (2019)
- SpainAreaExtremadura1.04× · 42,100 km²PeopleAndalusia1.86× · 8.6 million (2024)
- JapanAreaHokkaido (Japan)56% · 78,800 km²PeopleTokyo1.13× · 14.3 million (2022)
- CanadaAreaNova Scotia80% · 55,100 km²PeopleOntario1.13× · 14.2 million (2021)
- AustraliaAreaTasmania (Australia)65% · 68,100 km²PeopleNew South Wales1.88× · 8.5 million (2024)
- MexicoAreaQuintana Roo1.00× · 43,900 km²PeopleState of Mexico0.99× · 16.2 million (2015)
- ThailandAreaChiang Mai1.93× · 22,800 km²Peoplenone within 2×
Where Rio de Janeiro sits in Brazil
All 27 drawn on one equal-area map, so sizes are comparable. Select another to open it.
Compare Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro vs Denmark
- Estonia vs Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro vs Switzerland
- Senegal vs Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro vs Netherlands
- Romania vs Rio de Janeiro
- Tasmania (Australia) vs Rio de Janeiro
- Nova Scotia vs Rio de Janeiro
- Ningxia vs Rio de Janeiro
- West Virginia vs Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro vs Haryana
- Rio de Janeiro vs Quintana Roo
- Rio de Janeiro vs Extremadura
- Bourgogne-Franche-Comté vs Rio de Janeiro
- Hokkaido (Japan) vs Rio de Janeiro
- Lower Saxony vs Rio de Janeiro
- Rio de Janeiro vs Sicily (Italy)
- Rio de Janeiro vs Chiang Mai
- Rio de Janeiro vs State of Mexico
- Rio de Janeiro vs Jammu and Kashmir
- Rio de Janeiro vs Centre-Val de Loire
- Rio de Janeiro vs Yucatán
- Rio de Janeiro vs Kerala
- Rio de Janeiro vs Baden-Württemberg
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded. The region’s whole area is counted, every island included.
- Official figures
- Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-12
- Population
- Wikidata, 2022. Brazil’s units share the 2022 figures where Wikidata has them; the year is shown wherever the figure is.
- Matching
- Countries come from Natural Earth’s country file. Places whose status is contested and dependencies are never used as automatic matches. A region under 2,500 km² is matched against the small countries and island nations.
- Data built
- 2026-11-12