British Columbia is 36.6× the size of Sicily (Italy)

British Columbia (province of Canada) covers about 946,000 km² (365,000 mi²) and Sicily (Italy) (region of Italy) about 25,900 km² (9,990 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

946,000km²British Columbia
25,900km²Sicily (Italy)

500 km

British Columbia
Sicily (Italy)

What fits

Sicily (Italy) fits inside British Columbia about 36.6 times by area.
British Columbia is larger by 920,000 km² (355,000 mi²), which is 3,556% of the area of Sicily (Italy).
Measured in Belgiums: British Columbia is about 30.8, Sicily (Italy) about 0.84.

How they differ

British Columbia also has the larger population: 5.0 million against 5.0 million, 1.00× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 193 in Sicily (Italy) against 5.3 in British Columbia: Sicily (Italy) is 36.4× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 9,030 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: British Columbia at 55°N is drawn about 3.0× too large and Sicily (Italy) at 38°N about 1.6×, so the map shows British Columbia as 68.3× the size of Sicily (Italy) instead of 36.6×.
Together British Columbia and Sicily (Italy) cover 971,000 km², close to the size of Egypt (1,001,000 km², 3.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 920,000 km², is about the size of Venezuela (913,000 km²).
At Sicily (Italy)'s density, British Columbia would have 182.2 million people (it has 5.0 million). At British Columbia's density, Sicily (Italy) would have 137,000 (it has 5.0 million).
British Columbia's centre is 17.0° of latitude, about 1,890 km, farther north than Sicily (Italy)'s.
British Columbia is the 5th largest of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and covers 9.5% of its area; it is the 7th most densely populated of them.
Sicily (Italy) is the largest of the 20 regions of Italy and covers 8.6% of its area; it is the 8th most densely populated of them.
British Columbia lies about 17° of latitude (roughly 1,890 km) north of Sicily (Italy).
Shared out evenly, each person in British Columbia would have about 189,090 m² and each person in Sicily (Italy) about 5,190 m².
Laid side by side, British Columbia and Sicily (Italy) would cover 971,000 km², about the same size as Egypt.
Together they have 10.0 million people, about as many people as the United Arab Emirates.

Side by side

	British Columbia	Sicily (Italy)
Is a	ProvinceCanada	RegionItaly
Area, measured	946,000 km²365,000 mi²	25,900 km²9,990 mi²
Official area	945,000 km²Wikidata	25,700 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	5th of 13in Canada	1st of 20in Italy
Population	5.0 millionWikidata, 2021	5.0 millionWikidata, 2019
Rank by population	3rd of 13in Canada	4th of 20in Italy
Density	5.3 per km²	193 per km²
Capital	Victoria	Palermo
Latitude range	48°N to 60°N	35°N to 39°N

Population: Wikidata 2021 and Wikidata 2019. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 945,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 946,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 25,700 km² agrees with our measured area of 25,900 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to British Columbia

Similar in size to Sicily (Italy)

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain. The outline of Sicily (Italy) is the provinces 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