State of Brazil
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte is a state of Brazil. It covers about 52,800 km² (20,400 mi²), the 22nd largest of the 27 states and districts in Natural Earth’s file for Brazil, and about the same size as Bosnia and Herzegovina. About 3.3 million people live there (Wikidata, 2022).
200 km
- Rio Grande do Norte
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facts
| Area, measured | 52,800 km²20,400 mi² |
|---|---|
| Official area | 53,300 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure |
| Share of Brazil | 0.6%of the area of the 27 states and districts |
| Rank by area | 22nd of 27states and districts of Brazil |
| Population | 3.3 millionWikidata, 2022 · the census year of every unit |
| Density | 63 people per km² |
| Capital | Natal |
| Latitude range | 7°S to 1°N |
| Type | StateBR-RN |
What the numbers say about Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte covers 0.6% of the area of Brazil and ranks 17th of 27 by population, against 22nd by area.
- It would take 160 states and districts the size of Rio Grande do Norte to cover Brazil.
- Rio Grande do Norte holds 1.6% of the 203.1 million people that Wikidata’s 2022 figures give for the 27 states and districts together: about 1 in 61.
- The largest, Amazonas, is 29.6× the size of Rio Grande do Norte; the smallest, Federal District, is 11% of it.
- Closest in size within Brazil: Paraíba (56,500 km², 1.07×) and Espírito Santo (45,800 km², 1.15×).
- Counted as a country, Rio Grande do Norte would be larger than 112 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 128th by area, between Croatia (55,000 km²) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (51,800 km²).
- With 3.3 million people it would rank 136th of 238 by population.
- Rio Grande do Norte has 63 people per km², about the density of Yemen, which has 62 per km².
- That makes Rio Grande do Norte the 10th most densely populated of the 27 states and districts, 2.61× the average for Brazil (24 per km²).
- Rio Grande do Norte lies at 6°S, close to the equator, where a standard web map (Web Mercator) is nearly true to size: it inflates area by only about 1.0×.
- Laid out flat, Rio Grande do Norte stretches about 870 km north to south and 1,030 km east to west.
- Wikidata's official figure of 53,300 km² agrees with our measured area of 52,800 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.
- ChinaAreaNingxia1.01× · 52,100 km²PeopleTibet0.91× · 3.6 million (2020)
- United StatesAreaWest Virginia84% · 62,700 km²PeopleUtah1.01× · 3.3 million (2020)
- IndiaAreaUttarakhand1.00× · 52,600 km²PeopleTripura90% · 3.7 million (2011)
- GermanyAreaLower Saxony1.11× · 47,600 km²PeopleSchleswig-Holstein1.12× · 3.0 million (2022)
- FranceAreaGrand Est0.92× · 57,400 km²PeopleNormandy0.99× · 3.3 million (2022)
- ItalyAreanone within 2×PeopleTuscany89% · 3.7 million (2019)
- SpainAreaAragon1.11× · 47,600 km²PeopleGalicia1.22× · 2.7 million (2024)
- JapanAreaHokkaido (Japan)67% · 78,800 km²PeopleShizuoka0.92× · 3.6 million (2021)
- CanadaAreaNova Scotia0.96× · 55,100 km²PeopleAlberta77% · 4.3 million (2021)
- AustraliaAreaTasmania (Australia)78% · 68,100 km²PeopleWestern Australia1.10× · 3.0 million (2024)
- MexicoAreaCampeche0.92× · 57,100 km²PeopleBaja California1.00× · 3.3 million (2015)
- ThailandAreanone within 2×PeopleNakhon Ratchasima1.25× · 2.6 million (2020)
Where Rio Grande do Norte sits in Brazil
All 27 drawn on one equal-area map, so sizes are comparable. Select another to open it.
Ranked within Brazil
Compare Rio Grande do Norte
- Baja California vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Costa Rica
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Denmark
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Switzerland
- Mongolia vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Uruguay vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Tasmania (Australia) vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Nova Scotia vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Ningxia
- West Virginia vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Uttarakhand
- Campeche vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Aragon
- Grand Est vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Hokkaido (Japan) vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Lower Saxony
- Utah vs Rio Grande do Norte
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Normandy
- Rio Grande do Norte vs Punjab
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