Central African Republic is 1.65× the size of Japan

Central African Republic covers about 618,000 km² (239,000 mi²) and Japan about 374,000 km² (144,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

618,000km²Central African Republic
374,000km²Japan

500 km

Central African Republic
Japan

What fits

Japan is 60% of the size of Central African Republic.
Central African Republic is larger by 244,000 km² (94,400 mi²), which is 65% of the area of Japan.
Measured in Belgiums: Central African Republic is about 20.1, Japan about 12.2.

How they differ

Central African Republic is larger, but Japan has the larger population: 123.8 million against 5.2 million, 24.0× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 8.3 in Central African Republic: Japan is 39.8× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 11,900 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Central African Republic at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Japan at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows Central African Republic as 1.06× the size of Japan instead of 1.65×.
Together Central African Republic and Japan cover 991,000 km², close to the size of Egypt (1,001,000 km², 1.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 244,000 km², is about the size of Guinea (244,000 km²).
At Japan's density, Central African Republic would have 204.8 million people (it has 5.2 million). At Central African Republic's density, Japan would have 3.1 million (it has 123.8 million).
Japan's centre is 30.9° of latitude, about 3,430 km, farther north than Central African Republic's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Central African Republic	1.65×
More people	Japan	24.0×
More crowded	Japan	39.8×
Farther north	Japan	30.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Japan	1.6× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Central African Republic	Japan
Belgium 30,700 km²	20.1×	12.2×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	2.53×	1.53×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.73×	1.04×
France 548,000 km²	1.13×	0.68×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.20×	0.12×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.07×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.07×	0.04×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.04×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	Central African Republic	Japan
Area, main territory	618,000 km²239,000 mi²	374,000 km²144,000 mi²
Population	5.2 millionWikidata, 2023	123.8 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	8.3 per km²	331 per km²
Official area	623,000 km²Wikidata	378,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Bangui	Tokyo
Latitude range	2°N to 11°N	24°N to 46°N
Continent	Africa	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 623,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 618,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 378,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 374,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Central African Republic

Similar in size to Japan

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 - Countries, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. Main territory: the largest landmass and every part within 1,000 km of it.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. Comparisons use main-territory area.
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