Croatia is 1.08× the size of Costa Rica

Croatia covers about 55,000 km² (21,200 mi²) and Costa Rica about 51,200 km² (19,700 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

55,000km²Croatia
51,200km²Costa Rica

100 km

Croatia
Costa Rica

What fits

Costa Rica is 93% of the size of Croatia.
Croatia is larger by 3,870 km² (1,490 mi²), which is 7.6% of the area of Costa Rica.
Measured in Belgiums: Croatia is about 1.79, Costa Rica about 1.67.

How they differ

Croatia is larger, but Costa Rica has the larger population: 5.3 million against 3.9 million, 1.36× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 103 in Costa Rica against 70 in Croatia: Costa Rica is 1.46× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 10,000 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Croatia at 45°N is drawn about 2.0× too large and Costa Rica at 10°N about 1.0×, so the map shows Croatia as 2.09× the size of Costa Rica instead of 1.08×.
Together Croatia and Costa Rica cover 106,000 km², close to the size of Guatemala (109,000 km², 2.5% bigger).
The gap between them, 3,870 km², is about the size of Cape Verde (3,930 km²).
At Costa Rica's density, Croatia would have 5.7 million people (it has 3.9 million). At Croatia's density, Costa Rica would have 3.6 million (it has 5.3 million).
Croatia's centre is 35.1° of latitude, about 3,900 km, farther north than Costa Rica's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Croatia	1.08×
More people	Costa Rica	1.36×
More crowded	Costa Rica	1.46×
Farther north	Croatia	35.1° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Croatia	2.0× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Croatia	Costa Rica
Belgium 30,700 km²	1.79×	1.67×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.23×	0.21×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.15×	0.14×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.15×	0.14×
France 548,000 km²	0.10×	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 309	1 in 332

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

Side by side

	Croatia	Costa Rica
Area, main territory	55,000 km²21,200 mi²	51,200 km²19,700 mi²
Population	3.9 millionWikidata, 2021	5.3 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	70 per km²	103 per km²
Official area	56,600 km²Wikidata	51,200 km²Wikidata
Capital	Zagreb	San José
Latitude range	42°N to 47°N	6°N to 11°N
Continent	Europe	North America

Population: Wikidata 2021 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 55,000 km² is 2.8% below Wikidata's official figure of 56,600 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.
Wikidata's official figure of 51,200 km² agrees with our measured area of 51,200 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Croatia

Similar in size to Costa Rica

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