Costa Rica is 1.06× the size of Dominican Republic

Costa Rica covers about 51,200 km² (19,700 mi²) and Dominican Republic about 48,400 km² (18,700 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

51,200km²Costa Rica
48,400km²Dominican Republic

100 km

Costa Rica
Dominican Republic

What fits

Dominican Republic is 95% of the size of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is larger by 2,710 km² (1,050 mi²), which is 5.6% of the area of Dominican Republic.
Measured in Belgiums: Costa Rica is about 1.67, Dominican Republic about 1.58.

How they differ

Costa Rica is larger, but Dominican Republic has the larger population: 10.8 million against 5.3 million, 2.04× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 222 in Dominican Republic against 103 in Costa Rica: Dominican Republic is 2.16× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 1,780 km apart.
On a standard web map Dominican Republic looks larger than Costa Rica: Costa Rica at 10°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Dominican Republic at 19°N about 1.1×, so the map shows Dominican Republic as 1.03× the size of Costa Rica, when Costa Rica is 1.06× the size of Dominican Republic.
Together Costa Rica and Dominican Republic cover 99,600 km², close to the size of South Korea (98,500 km², 1.1% smaller).
The gap between them, 2,710 km², is about the size of Samoa (2,780 km²).
At Dominican Republic's density, Costa Rica would have 11.4 million people (it has 5.3 million). At Costa Rica's density, Dominican Republic would have 5.0 million (it has 10.8 million).
Dominican Republic's centre is 8.9° of latitude, about 990 km, farther north than Costa Rica's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Costa Rica	1.06×
More people	Dominican Republic	2.04×
More crowded	Dominican Republic	2.16×
Farther north	Dominican Republic	8.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Dominican Republic	1.1× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Costa Rica	Dominican Republic
Belgium 30,700 km²	1.67×	1.58×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.21×	0.20×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.14×	0.14×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.14×	0.13×
France 548,000 km²	0.09×	0.09×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	1 in 332	1 in 351

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

Side by side

	Costa Rica	Dominican Republic
Area, main territory	51,200 km²19,700 mi²	48,400 km²18,700 mi²
Population	5.3 millionWikidata, 2024	10.8 millionWikidata, 2022
Density	103 per km²	222 per km²
Official area	51,200 km²Wikidata	48,700 km²Wikidata
Capital	San José	Santo Domingo
Latitude range	6°N to 11°N	18°N to 20°N
Continent	North America	North America

Population: Wikidata 2024 and Wikidata 2022, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 51,200 km² agrees with our measured area of 51,200 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 48,700 km² agrees with our measured area of 48,400 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Costa Rica

Similar in size to Dominican Republic

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