Beijing is 1.05× the size of Iwate

Beijing (municipality of China) covers about 16,300 km² (6,270 mi²) and Iwate (prefecture of Japan) about 15,500 km² (5,970 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

16,300km²Beijing
15,500km²Iwate

50 km

Beijing
Iwate

What fits

Iwate is 95% of the size of Beijing.
Beijing is larger by 778 km² (300 mi²), which is 5.0% of the area of Iwate.
Measured in Belgiums: Beijing is about 0.53, Iwate about 0.50.

How they differ

Beijing also has the larger population: 21.9 million against 1.2 million, 18.2× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 1,347 in Beijing against 78 in Iwate: Beijing is 17.3× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 2,120 km apart.
Together Beijing and Iwate cover 31,700 km², close to the size of Belgium (30,700 km², 3.3% smaller).
The gap between them, 778 km², is about the size of Dominica (730 km²).
At Iwate's density, Beijing would have 1.3 million people (it has 21.9 million). At Beijing's density, Iwate would have 20.8 million (it has 1.2 million).
Beijing's centre is 0.6° of latitude, about 60 km, farther north than Iwate's.
Beijing is the 29th largest of the 31 provinces and regions of China and covers 0.2% of its area; it is the 2nd most densely populated of them.
Iwate is the 2nd largest of the 47 prefectures of Japan and covers 4.1% of its area; it is the 46th most densely populated of them.
Both lie at about the same latitude, 40°N and 40°N.
Shared out evenly, each person in Beijing would have about 740 m² and each person in Iwate about 12,830 m².
Laid side by side, Beijing and Iwate would cover 31,700 km², 1.03× the size of Belgium.
Together they have 23.1 million people, about as many people as Burkina Faso.

Side by side

	Beijing	Iwate
Is a	MunicipalityChina	PrefectureJapan
Area, measured	16,300 km²6,270 mi²	15,500 km²5,970 mi²
Official area	16,400 km²Wikidata	15,300 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	29th of 31in China	2nd of 47in Japan
Population	21.9 millionWikidata, 2020	1.2 millionWikidata, 2021
Rank by population	26th of 31in China	32nd of 47in Japan
Density	1,347 per km²	78 per km²
Capital	–	Morioka
Latitude range	39°N to 41°N	39°N to 40°N

Population: Wikidata 2020 and Wikidata 2021. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 16,400 km² agrees with our measured area of 16,300 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 15,300 km² agrees with our measured area of 15,500 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Beijing

Similar in size to Iwate

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