Africa is 3.19× the size of China

Africa covers about 29,888,000 km² (11,540,000 mi²) and China about 9,375,000 km² (3,620,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

29,888,000km²Africa
9,375,000km²China

2,000 km

Africa
China

What fits

China fits inside Africa about 3.19 times by area.
Africa is larger by 20,513,000 km² (7,920,000 mi²), which is 219% of the area of China.
Measured in Belgiums: Africa is about 975, China about 306.

How they differ

Africa also has the larger population: 1.55 billion against 1.40 billion, 1.10× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 150 in China against 52 in Africa: China is 2.89× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 9,100 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Africa at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and China at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows Africa as 2.08× the size of China instead of 3.19×.
The gap between them, 20,513,000 km², is about the size of Russia (16,980,000 km²).
At China's density, Africa would have 4.48 billion people (it has 1.55 billion). At Africa's density, China would have 486.1 million (it has 1.40 billion).
China's centre is 30.2° of latitude, about 3,360 km, farther north than Africa's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Africa	3.19×
More people	Africa	1.10×
More crowded	China	2.89×
Farther north	China	30.2° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	China	1.6× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Africa	China
Belgium 30,700 km²	975×	306×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	123×	38.5×
Germany 358,000 km²	83.6×	26.2×
Japan 374,000 km²	80.0×	25.1×
France 548,000 km²	54.6×	17.1×
India 3,151,000 km²	9.49×	2.98×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	3.53×	1.11×
United States 9,447,000 km²	3.16×	0.99×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	1.76×	0.55×

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

Side by side

	Africa	China
Area, main territory	29,888,000 km²11,540,000 mi²	9,375,000 km²3,620,000 mi²
Population	1.55 billionWikidata, 2025	1.40 billionWikidata, 2025
Density	52 per km²	150 per km²
Official area	29,648,000 km²Wikidata	9,563,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	–	Beijing
Latitude range	35°S to 37°N	16°N to 54°N
Continent	Africa	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2025, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 29,648,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 29,889,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 9,563,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 9,375,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Africa

Similar in size to China

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. Main territory: the largest landmass and every part within 1,000 km of it.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. Comparisons use main-territory area.
Drawing: Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and the two can be laid over each other.
Data built: 2026-11-11

Full method