Caribbean Sea is 1.02× the size of Argentina

The Caribbean Sea (sea) covers about 2,829,000 km² (1,092,000 mi²) and Argentina (country) about 2,783,000 km² (1,074,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Caribbean Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

2,829,000km²Caribbean Sea
2,783,000km²Argentina

1,000 km

Caribbean Sea
Argentina

What fits

Argentina is 98% of the size of Caribbean Sea.
Caribbean Sea is larger by 45,800 km² (17,700 mi²), which is 1.6% of the area of Argentina.
Measured in Belgiums: Caribbean Sea is about 92.2, Argentina about 90.7.

How they differ

Their centres are about 5,660 km apart.
On a standard web map Argentina looks larger than Caribbean Sea: Caribbean Sea at 15°N is drawn about 1.1× too large and Argentina at 35°S about 1.5×, so the map shows Argentina as 1.35× the size of Caribbean Sea, when Caribbean Sea is 1.02× the size of Argentina.
Together Caribbean Sea and Argentina cover 5,612,000 km², close to the size of Australia (7,691,000 km², 37% bigger).
The gap between them, 45,800 km², is about the size of Estonia (45,800 km²).
Caribbean Sea's centre is 50.1° of latitude, about 5,570 km, farther north than Argentina's.
The Caribbean Sea is a sea and ranks 3rd of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Argentina ranks 8th of 212 countries by area.
Laid out flat, the Caribbean Sea stretches about 1,590 km north to south and 3,110 km east to west; Argentina about 3,680 km by 1,740 km.
Our measured 2,829,000 km² is 2.7% above Wikidata’s published figure of 2,754,000 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	Caribbean Sea	1.02×
Farther north	Caribbean Sea	50.1° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Argentina	1.5× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Caribbean Sea	Argentina
Belgium 30,700 km²	92.2×	90.7×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	11.6×	11.4×
Germany 358,000 km²	7.91×	7.78×
Japan 374,000 km²	7.57×	7.45×
France 548,000 km²	5.16×	5.08×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.90×	0.88×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.33×	0.33×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.30×	0.29×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.17×	0.16×

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

Side by side

	Caribbean Sea	Argentina
Is a	Seasea on sizeversus	CountrySouth America
Area, measured	2,829,000 km²1,092,000 mi²	2,783,000 km²1,074,000 mi²
Area, published	2,754,000 km²Wikidata	2,780,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	3rd of 42seas	8th of 212countries
Greatest depth	7,686 mWikidata	–
Latitude range	8°N to 23°N	55°S to 22°S
On the shore	12 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 Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, Panama, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Belize and Costa Rica lie within 25 km of the outline of the Caribbean 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 Caribbean Sea

Similar in size to Argentina

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