Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is 1.71× the size of Switzerland

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (region of France) covers about 70,900 km² (27,400 mi²) and Switzerland (Europe) about 41,400 km² (16,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

70,900km²Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
41,400km²Switzerland

100 km

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Switzerland

What fits

Switzerland is 58% of the size of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is larger by 29,500 km² (11,400 mi²), which is 71% of the area of Switzerland.
Measured in Belgiums: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is about 2.31, Switzerland about 1.35.

How they differ

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is larger, but Switzerland has the larger population: 9.1 million against 8.2 million, 1.12× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 220 in Switzerland against 115 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Switzerland is 1.91× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 317 km apart.
Together Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Switzerland cover 112,000 km², close to the size of Honduras (112,000 km², 0.1% smaller).
The gap between them, 29,500 km², is about the size of Armenia (29,600 km²).
At Switzerland's density, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes would have 15.6 million people (it has 8.2 million). At Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes's density, Switzerland would have 4.8 million (it has 9.1 million).
Switzerland's centre is 1.3° of latitude, about 140 km, farther north than Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes's.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is the 4th largest of the 18 regions of France and covers 11% of its area; it is the 10th most densely populated of them.
Switzerland ranks 135th of 246 countries and territories by area.
Both lie at about the same latitude, 46°N and 47°N.
Shared out evenly, each person in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes would have about 8,690 m² and each person in Switzerland about 4,550 m².
Laid side by side, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Switzerland would cover 112,000 km², about the same size as Honduras.
Together they have 17.3 million people, about as many people as Guatemala.
Counted as a country, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes would rank 121st by area and 101st by population.

Side by side

	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	Switzerland
Is a	RegionFrance	CountryEurope
Area, measured	70,900 km²27,400 mi²	41,400 km²16,000 mi²
Official area	69,700 km²Wikidata	41,300 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	4th of 18in France	134th of 239worldwide
Population	8.2 millionWikidata, 2022	9.1 millionWikidata, 2025
Rank by population	2nd of 18in France	96th of 237worldwide
Density	115 per km²	220 per km²
Capital	Lyon	Bern
Latitude range	44°N to 47°N	46°N to 48°N

Population: Wikidata 2022 and Wikidata 2025. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 69,700 km² agrees with our measured area of 70,900 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 41,300 km² agrees with our measured area of 41,400 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Similar in size to Switzerland

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain for the region; Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain. The outline of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is the departments Natural Earth draws there, joined along their shared borders.
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A region is drawn whole, every island included; a country is its main territory.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded.
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: 2026-11-12

Full method