Banks Island is 1.02× the size of Ireland

Banks Island (island) covers about 70,600 km² (27,200 mi²) and Ireland (country) about 69,400 km² (26,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Banks Island outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

70,600km²Banks Island
69,400km²Ireland

100 km

Banks Island
Ireland

What fits

Ireland is 98% of the size of Banks Island.
Banks Island is larger by 1,110 km² (430 mi²), which is 1.6% of the area of Ireland.
Measured in Belgiums: Banks Island is about 2.30, Ireland about 2.26.

How they differ

Their centres are about 5,100 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Banks Island at 73°N is drawn about 11.7× too large and Ireland at 53°N about 2.8×, so the map shows Banks Island as 4.28× the size of Ireland instead of 1.02×.
Together Banks Island and Ireland cover 140,000 km², close to the size of Tajikistan (142,000 km², 1.6% bigger).
The gap between them, 1,110 km², is about the size of São Tomé and Príncipe (1,040 km²).
Banks Island's centre is 19.9° of latitude, about 2,210 km, farther north than Ireland's.
Banks Island is an island and ranks 23rd of the 81 islands on sizeversus by area.
Ireland ranks 122nd of 212 countries by area.
Laid out flat, Banks Island stretches about 383 km north to south and 342 km east to west; Ireland about 437 km by 303 km.
Wikidata’s published figure of 70,000 km² agrees with our measured 70,600 km², to within 2%.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Banks Island	1.02×
Farther north	Banks Island	19.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Banks Island	11.7× against 2.8×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Banks Island	Ireland
Belgium 30,700 km²	2.30×	2.26×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.29×	0.28×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.20×	0.19×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.19×	0.19×
France 548,000 km²	0.13×	0.13×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	1 in 241	1 in 245

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

Side by side

	Banks Island	Ireland
Is a	Islandisland on sizeversus	CountryEurope
Area, measured	70,600 km²27,200 mi²	69,400 km²26,800 mi²
Area, published	70,000 km²Wikidata	69,800 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	23rd of 81islands	122nd of 212countries
Latitude range	71°N to 75°N	51°N to 55°N
On the shore	1 on the shore	–

Published figures: Wikidata (CC0). A lake or a sea has no legal boundary: the measured area is that of Natural Earth’s outline, and it is shown beside the published one.

Natural Earth’s outlines of Canada contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of Banks Island. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.

Similar in size to Banks Island

Similar in size to Ireland

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Lakes and seas: Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors (public domain), kept only where the measured area is within 10% of the published one. Countries and regions: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 and Admin 1, public domain.
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own; the outline is a cartographic one.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. The published figure comes from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11, and is shown beside the measured one.
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