Central African Republic is 1.04× the size of Madagascar

Central African Republic covers about 618,000 km² (239,000 mi²) and Madagascar about 593,000 km² (229,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

618,000km²Central African Republic
593,000km²Madagascar

500 km

Central African Republic
Madagascar

What fits

Madagascar is 96% of the size of Central African Republic.
Central African Republic is larger by 25,000 km² (9,650 mi²), which is 4.2% of the area of Madagascar.
Measured in Belgiums: Central African Republic is about 20.1, Madagascar about 19.3.

How they differ

Central African Republic is larger, but Madagascar has the larger population: 32.0 million against 5.2 million, 6.20× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 54 in Madagascar against 8.3 in Central African Republic: Madagascar is 6.47× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 4,070 km apart.
On a standard web map Madagascar looks larger than Central African Republic: Central African Republic at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Madagascar at 19°S about 1.1×, so the map shows Madagascar as 1.06× the size of Central African Republic, when Central African Republic is 1.04× the size of Madagascar.
Together Central African Republic and Madagascar cover 1,211,000 km², close to the size of South Africa (1,220,000 km², 0.7% bigger).
The gap between them, 25,000 km², is about the size of Rwanda (25,300 km²).
At Madagascar's density, Central African Republic would have 33.3 million people (it has 5.2 million). At Central African Republic's density, Madagascar would have 4.9 million (it has 32.0 million).
Central African Republic's centre is 25.9° of latitude, about 2,880 km, farther north than Madagascar's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Central African Republic	1.04×
More people	Madagascar	6.20×
More crowded	Madagascar	6.47×
Farther north	Central African Republic	25.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Madagascar	1.1× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Central African Republic	Madagascar
Belgium 30,700 km²	20.1×	19.3×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	2.53×	2.43×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.73×	1.66×
Japan 374,000 km²	1.65×	1.59×
France 548,000 km²	1.13×	1.08×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.20×	0.19×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.07×	0.07×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.07×	0.06×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.04×	0.03×

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

Side by side

	Central African Republic	Madagascar
Area, main territory	618,000 km²239,000 mi²	593,000 km²229,000 mi²
Population	5.2 millionWikidata, 2023	32.0 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	8.3 per km²	54 per km²
Official area	623,000 km²Wikidata	587,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Bangui	Antananarivo
Latitude range	2°N to 11°N	26°S to 12°S
Continent	Africa	Africa

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 587,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 593,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Central African Republic

Similar in size to Madagascar

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