Baja California Sur is 1.28× the size of Paraíba

Baja California Sur (state of Mexico) covers about 72,100 km² (27,800 mi²) and Paraíba (state of Brazil) about 56,500 km² (21,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

72,100km²Baja California Sur
56,500km²Paraíba

100 km

Baja California Sur
Paraíba

What fits

Paraíba is 78% of the size of Baja California Sur.
Baja California Sur is larger by 15,600 km² (6,030 mi²), which is 28% of the area of Paraíba.
Measured in Belgiums: Baja California Sur is about 2.35, Paraíba about 1.84.

How they differ

Baja California Sur is larger, but Paraíba has the larger population: 4.0 million against 637,000, 6.24× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 70 in Paraíba against 8.8 in Baja California Sur: Paraíba is 7.96× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 8,890 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Baja California Sur at 26°N is drawn about 1.2× too large and Paraíba at 7°S about 1.0×, so the map shows Baja California Sur as 1.55× the size of Paraíba instead of 1.28×.
Together Baja California Sur and Paraíba cover 129,000 km², close to the size of Nicaragua (129,000 km², 0.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 15,600 km², is about the size of East Timor (15,100 km²).
At Paraíba's density, Baja California Sur would have 5.1 million people (it has 637,000). At Baja California Sur's density, Paraíba would have 499,000 (it has 4.0 million).
Baja California Sur's centre is 33.0° of latitude, about 3,670 km, farther north than Paraíba's.
Baja California Sur is the 11th largest of the 32 states of Mexico and covers 3.7% of its area; it is the 32nd most densely populated of them.
Paraíba is the 21st largest of the 27 states and districts of Brazil and covers 0.7% of its area; it is the 9th most densely populated of them.
Baja California Sur lies about 33° of latitude (roughly 3,670 km) north of Paraíba, on the other side of the equator.
Shared out evenly, each person in Baja California Sur would have about 113,220 m² and each person in Paraíba about 14,220 m².
Laid side by side, Baja California Sur and Paraíba would cover 129,000 km², about the same size as Nicaragua.
Together they have 4.6 million people, about as many people as Panama.

Side by side

	Baja California Sur	Paraíba
Is a	StateMexico	StateBrazil
Area, measured	72,100 km²27,800 mi²	56,500 km²21,800 mi²
Official area	73,900 km²Wikidata	56,600 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	11th of 32in Mexico	21st of 27in Brazil
Population	637,000Wikidata, 2010	4.0 millionWikidata, 2022
Rank by population	32nd of 32in Mexico	13th of 27in Brazil
Density	8.8 per km²	70 per km²
Capital	La Paz	João Pessoa
Latitude range	23°N to 28°N	8°S to 6°S

Population: Wikidata 2010 and Wikidata 2022. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 72,100 km² is 2.4% below Wikidata's official figure of 73,900 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.
Wikidata's official figure of 56,600 km² agrees with our measured area of 56,500 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Baja California Sur

Similar in size to Paraíba

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
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