Province of Canada

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is a province of Canada. It covers about 55,100 km² (21,300 mi²), the 12th largest of the 13 provinces and territories in Natural Earth’s file for Canada, and about the same size as Croatia. About 969,000 people live there (Wikidata, 2021).

In area1.00×the size ofCroatia55,000 km² In people1.05×as many people asFiji926,000

100 km

Nova Scotia
Croatia

Facts

Area, measured	55,100 km²21,300 mi²
Official area	55,300 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure
Share of Canada	0.6%of the area of the 13 provinces and territories
Rank by area	12th of 13provinces and territories of Canada
Population	969,000Wikidata, 2021 · the census year of every unit
Density	18 people per km²
Capital	Halifax
Latitude range	43°N to 47°N
Type	ProvinceCA-NS

What the numbers say about Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia covers 0.6% of the area of Canada and ranks 7th of 13 by population, against 12th by area.
It would take 180 provinces and territories the size of Nova Scotia to cover Canada.
Nova Scotia holds 2.6% of the 37.0 million people that Wikidata’s 2021 figures give for the 13 provinces and territories together: about 1 in 38.
The largest, Nunavut, is 37.7× the size of Nova Scotia; the smallest, Prince Edward Island, is 10% of it.
Closest in size within Canada: New Brunswick (72,800 km², 1.32×) and Newfoundland and Labrador (403,000 km², 7.32×).
Counted as a country, Nova Scotia would be larger than 113 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 127th by area, between Togo (56,900 km²) and Croatia (55,000 km²).
With 969,000 people it would rank 162nd of 238 by population.
Nova Scotia has 18 people per km², about the density of the Republic of the Congo, which has 18 per km².
That makes Nova Scotia the 2nd most densely populated of the 13 provinces and territories, 4.73× the average for Canada (3.7 per km²).
On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 45°N is drawn about 2.0× too large in area, so Nova Scotia looks bigger there than it is.
Laid out flat, Nova Scotia stretches about 403 km north to south and 528 km east to west.
Wikidata's official figure of 55,300 km² agrees with our measured area of 55,100 km², to within 2%.

About the same size as

About as many people 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.

ChinaAreaNingxia1.06× · 52,100 km²Peoplenone within 2×
United StatesAreaWest Virginia88% · 62,700 km² PeopleDelaware0.98× · 990,000 (2020)
IndiaAreaHimachal Pradesh0.99× · 55,400 km² PeopleChandigarh0.92× · 1.1 million (2011)
GermanyAreaLower Saxony1.16× · 47,600 km² PeopleSaarland0.96× · 1.0 million (2022)
FranceAreaGrand Est0.96× · 57,400 km² PeopleRéunion (France)1.10× · 881,000 (2022)
ItalyAreanone within 2×PeopleUmbria1.10× · 882,000 (2019)
SpainAreaAragon1.16× · 47,600 km² PeopleAsturias0.96× · 1.0 million (2024)
JapanAreaHokkaido (Japan)70% · 78,800 km² PeopleKagawa1.02× · 949,000 (2020)
BrazilAreaParaíba0.98× · 56,500 km² PeopleAcre1.17× · 830,000 (2022)
AustraliaAreaTasmania (Australia)81% · 68,100 km² PeopleTasmania (Australia)1.80× · 540,000 (2020)
MexicoAreaCampeche0.96× · 57,100 km² PeopleCampeche1.04× · 928,000 (2020)
ThailandAreanone within 2×PeopleKalasin0.99× · 977,000 (2020)

Where Nova Scotia sits in Canada

All 13 drawn on one equal-area map, so sizes are comparable. Select another to open it.

Ranked within Canada

All 13 provinces and territories of Canada, matched to countries

Compare Nova Scotia

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, 2021. Canada’s units share the 2021 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

Full method