Afghanistan is 1.72× the size of Japan

What fits

• Japan is 58% of the size of Afghanistan.
• Afghanistan is larger by 269,000 km² (104,000 mi²), which is 72% of the area of Japan.
• Measured in Belgiums: Afghanistan is about 20.9, Japan about 12.2.

How they differ

• Afghanistan is larger, but Japan has the larger population: 123.8 million against 41.5 million, 2.99× as many people.
• Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 65 in Afghanistan: Japan is 5.13× as densely populated.
• Their centres are about 6,330 km apart.
• Together Afghanistan and Japan cover 1,016,000 km², close to the size of Egypt (1,001,000 km², 1.4% smaller).
• The gap between them, 269,000 km², is about the size of New Zealand (268,000 km²).
• At Japan's density, Afghanistan would have 212.9 million people (it has 41.5 million). At Afghanistan's density, Japan would have 24.1 million (it has 123.8 million).
• Japan's centre is 3.6° of latitude, about 400 km, farther north than Afghanistan's.

Who wins on what

Both against the same yardsticks

Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.

Side by side

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

• Wikidata's official figure of 652,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 642,000 km², to within 2%.
• Wikidata's official figure of 378,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 374,000 km², to within 2%.

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