Africa is 3.16× the size of United States
Africa covers about 29,888,000 km² (11,540,000 mi²) and United States about 9,447,000 km² (3,648,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.
- 29,888,000km²Africa
- 9,447,000km²United States
2,000 km
- Africa
- United States
What fits
- United States fits inside Africa about 3.16 times by area.
- Africa is larger by 20,441,000 km² (7,892,000 mi²), which is 216% of the area of United States.
- Measured in Belgiums: Africa is about 975, United States about 308.
How they differ
- Africa also has the larger population: 1.55 billion against 340.1 million, 4.56× as many people.
- Per square kilometre that is 52 in Africa against 36 in United States: Africa is 1.44× as densely populated.
- Their centres are about 11,900 km apart.
- A standard web map misstates the comparison: Africa at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and United States at 45°N about 2.0×, so the map shows Africa as 1.62× the size of United States instead of 3.16×.
- The gap between them, 20,441,000 km², is about the size of Russia (16,980,000 km²).
- At United States's density, Africa would have 1.07 billion people (it has 1.55 billion). At Africa's density, United States would have 490.8 million (it has 340.1 million).
- United States's centre is 38.3° of latitude, about 4,250 km, farther north than Africa's.
Who wins on what
| Measure | Winner | By |
|---|---|---|
| Larger area | Africa | 3.16× |
| More people | Africa | 4.56× |
| More crowded | Africa | 1.44× |
| Farther north | United States | 38.3° of latitude |
| Stretched more on a web map | United States | 2.0× against 1.0× |
Both against the same yardsticks
| Yardstick | Africa | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium 30,700 km² | 975× | 308× |
| United Kingdom 244,000 km² | 123× | 38.8× |
| Germany 358,000 km² | 83.6× | 26.4× |
| Japan 374,000 km² | 80.0× | 25.3× |
| France 548,000 km² | 54.6× | 17.2× |
| India 3,151,000 km² | 9.49× | 3.00× |
| Brazil 8,473,000 km² | 3.53× | 1.12× |
| Russia 16,980,000 km² | 1.76× | 0.56× |
Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.
Side by side
| Africa | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Area, main territory | 29,888,000 km²11,540,000 mi² | 9,447,000 km²3,648,000 mi² |
| Population | 1.55 billionWikidata, 2025 | 340.1 millionWikidata, 2024 |
| Density | 52 per km² | 36 per km² |
| Official area | 29,648,000 km²Wikidata | 9,834,000 km²Wikidata |
| Capital | – | Washington, D.C. |
| Latitude range | 35°S to 37°N | 25°N to 71°N |
| Continent | Africa | North America |
Population: Wikidata 2025 and Wikidata 2024, 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%.
- Our measured 9,464,000 km² is 3.8% below Wikidata's official figure of 9,834,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.
Similar in size to Africa
Similar in size to United States
More comparisons
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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