Africa is 1.76× the size of Russia

Africa covers about 29,888,000 km² (11,540,000 mi²) and Russia about 16,980,000 km² (6,556,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

29,888,000km²Africa
16,980,000km²Russia

2,000 km

Africa
Russia

What fits

Russia is 57% of the size of Africa.
Africa is larger by 12,908,000 km² (4,984,000 mi²), which is 76% of the area of Russia.
Measured in Belgiums: Africa is about 975, Russia about 554.

How they differ

Africa also has the larger population: 1.55 billion against 146.1 million, 10.6× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 52 in Africa against 8.6 in Russia: Africa is 6.03× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 8,760 km apart.
On a standard web map Russia looks larger than Africa: Africa at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Russia at 66°N about 6.1×, so the map shows Russia as 3.40× the size of Africa, when Africa is 1.76× the size of Russia.
The gap between them, 12,908,000 km², is about the size of Canada (9,946,000 km²).
At Russia's density, Africa would have 257.2 million people (it has 1.55 billion). At Africa's density, Russia would have 880.5 million (it has 146.1 million).
Russia's centre is 59.5° of latitude, about 6,620 km, farther north than Africa's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Africa	1.76×
More people	Africa	10.6×
More crowded	Africa	6.03×
Farther north	Russia	59.5° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Russia	6.1× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Africa	Russia
Belgium 30,700 km²	975×	554×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	123×	69.7×
Germany 358,000 km²	83.6×	47.5×
Japan 374,000 km²	80.0×	45.5×
France 548,000 km²	54.6×	31.0×
India 3,151,000 km²	9.49×	5.39×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	3.53×	2.00×
United States 9,447,000 km²	3.16×	1.80×

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

Side by side

	Africa	Russia
Area, main territory	29,888,000 km²11,540,000 mi²	16,980,000 km²6,556,000 mi²
Population	1.55 billionWikidata, 2025	146.1 millionWikidata, 2025
Density	52 per km²	8.6 per km²
Official area	29,648,000 km²Wikidata	17,098,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	–	Moscow
Latitude range	35°S to 37°N	41°N to 82°N
Continent	Africa	Europe

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 17,098,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 16,980,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Africa

Similar in size to Russia

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