Black Sea is 1.18× the size of Germany

The Black Sea (sea) covers about 422,000 km² (163,000 mi²) and Germany (country) about 358,000 km² (138,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Black Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

422,000km²Black Sea
358,000km²Germany

200 km

Black Sea
Germany

What fits

Germany is 85% of the size of Black Sea.
Black Sea is larger by 64,500 km² (24,900 mi²), which is 18% of the area of Germany.
Measured in Belgiums: Black Sea is about 13.8, Germany about 11.7.

How they differ

Their centres are about 1,990 km apart.
On a standard web map Germany looks larger than Black Sea: Black Sea at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Germany at 51°N about 2.5×, so the map shows Germany as 1.14× the size of Black Sea, when Black Sea is 1.18× the size of Germany.
Together Black Sea and Germany cover 780,000 km², close to the size of Turkey (780,000 km², 0.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 64,500 km², is about the size of Latvia (64,600 km²).
Germany's centre is 7.8° of latitude, about 860 km, farther north than Black Sea's.
The Black Sea is a sea and ranks 14th of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Germany ranks 64th of 212 countries by area.
Laid out flat, the Black Sea stretches about 693 km north to south and 1,170 km east to west; Germany about 849 km by 639 km.
Poured over Germany, the 547,000 km³ that Wikidata records for the Black Sea would stand 1,529 m deep.
Our measured 422,000 km² is 3.3% below Wikidata’s published figure of 436,000 km². Published areas of lakes and seas move with the water level and with what is counted, so a few percent is expected.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Black Sea	1.18×
Farther north	Germany	7.8° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Germany	2.5× against 1.9×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Black Sea	Germany
Belgium 30,700 km²	13.8×	11.7×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.73×	1.47×
Japan 374,000 km²	1.13×	0.96×
France 548,000 km²	0.77×	0.65×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.13×	0.11×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.05×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.04×	0.04×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	Black Sea	Germany
Is a	Seasea on sizeversus	CountryEurope
Area, measured	422,000 km²163,000 mi²	358,000 km²138,000 mi²
Area, published	436,000 km²Wikidata	358,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	14th of 42seas	64th of 212countries
Greatest depth	2,206 mWikidata	–
Volume	547,000 km³	–
Latitude range	41°N to 47°N	47°N to 55°N
On the shore	6 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 Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia lie within 25 km of the outline of the Black Sea. 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 Black Sea

Similar in size to Germany

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