Caspian Sea is 1.06× the size of Germany

The Caspian Sea (sea) covers about 379,000 km² (146,000 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 Caspian Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

379,000km²Caspian Sea
358,000km²Germany

200 km

Caspian Sea
Germany

Caspian Sea: Whether the Caspian is called a sea or a lake depends on the definition used. Its name says sea and Natural Earth draws it with its marine areas, so Size Versus lists it with the seas, and also shows where it would stand among the lakes.

What fits

Germany is 94% of the size of Caspian Sea.
Caspian Sea is larger by 21,600 km² (8,350 mi²), which is 6.0% of the area of Germany.
Measured in Belgiums: Caspian Sea is about 12.4, Germany about 11.7.

How they differ

Their centres are about 3,220 km apart.
On a standard web map Germany looks larger than Caspian Sea: Caspian Sea at 42°N is drawn about 1.8× too large and Germany at 51°N about 2.5×, so the map shows Germany as 1.33× the size of Caspian Sea, when Caspian Sea is 1.06× the size of Germany.
Together Caspian Sea and Germany cover 737,000 km², close to the size of Chile (736,000 km², 0.1% smaller).
The gap between them, 21,600 km², is about the size of Djibouti (21,800 km²).
Germany's centre is 9.4° of latitude, about 1,040 km, farther north than Caspian Sea's.
The Caspian Sea is a sea and ranks 15th of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Germany ranks 64th of 212 countries by area.
Laid out flat, the Caspian Sea stretches about 1,170 km north to south and 611 km east to west; Germany about 849 km by 639 km.
Poured over Germany, the 78,700 km³ that Wikidata records for the Caspian Sea would stand 220 m deep.
Wikidata’s published figure of 386,000 km² agrees with our measured 379,000 km², to within 2%.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Caspian Sea	1.06×
Farther north	Germany	9.4° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Germany	2.5× against 1.8×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Caspian Sea	Germany
Belgium 30,700 km²	12.4×	11.7×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.56×	1.47×
Japan 374,000 km²	1.02×	0.96×
France 548,000 km²	0.69×	0.65×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.12×	0.11×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	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

	Caspian Sea	Germany
Is a	Seasea on sizeversus	CountryEurope
Area, measured	379,000 km²146,000 mi²	358,000 km²138,000 mi²
Area, published	386,000 km²Wikidata	358,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	15th of 42seas	64th of 212countries
Greatest depth	1,025 mWikidata	–
Volume	78,700 km³	–
Latitude range	37°N to 47°N	47°N to 55°N
On the shore	5 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 Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran lie within 25 km of the outline of the Caspian 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 Caspian 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