Ethiopia is 1.09× the size of Mauritania

Ethiopia covers about 1,127,000 km² (435,000 mi²) and Mauritania about 1,036,000 km² (400,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

1,127,000km²Ethiopia
1,036,000km²Mauritania

500 km

Ethiopia
Mauritania

What fits

Mauritania is 92% of the size of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is larger by 91,000 km² (35,100 mi²), which is 8.8% of the area of Mauritania.
Measured in Belgiums: Ethiopia is about 36.8, Mauritania about 33.8.

How they differ

Ethiopia also has the larger population: 128.7 million against 4.7 million, 27.2× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 114 in Ethiopia against 4.6 in Mauritania: Ethiopia is 25.0× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 5,510 km apart.
On a standard web map Mauritania looks larger than Ethiopia: Ethiopia at 9°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Mauritania at 20°N about 1.1×, so the map shows Mauritania as 1.02× the size of Ethiopia, when Ethiopia is 1.09× the size of Mauritania.
Together Ethiopia and Mauritania cover 2,164,000 km², close to the size of Greenland (2,154,000 km², 0.4% smaller).
The gap between them, 91,000 km², is about the size of Portugal (91,400 km²).
At Mauritania's density, Ethiopia would have 5.2 million people (it has 128.7 million). At Ethiopia's density, Mauritania would have 118.3 million (it has 4.7 million).
Mauritania's centre is 11.6° of latitude, about 1,290 km, farther north than Ethiopia's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Ethiopia	1.09×
More people	Ethiopia	27.2×
More crowded	Ethiopia	25.0×
Farther north	Mauritania	11.6° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Mauritania	1.1× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Ethiopia	Mauritania
Belgium 30,700 km²	36.8×	33.8×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	4.62×	4.25×
Germany 358,000 km²	3.15×	2.90×
Japan 374,000 km²	3.02×	2.77×
France 548,000 km²	2.06×	1.89×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.36×	0.33×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.13×	0.12×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.12×	0.11×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.07×	0.06×

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

Side by side

	Ethiopia	Mauritania
Area, main territory	1,127,000 km²435,000 mi²	1,036,000 km²400,000 mi²
Population	128.7 millionWikidata, 2023	4.7 millionWikidata, 2022
Density	114 per km²	4.6 per km²
Official area	1,104,000 km²Wikidata	1,031,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Addis Ababa	Nouakchott
Latitude range	3°N to 15°N	15°N to 27°N
Continent	Africa	Africa

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2022, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 1,127,000 km² is 2.1% above Wikidata's official figure of 1,104,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.
Wikidata's official figure of 1,031,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 1,036,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Ethiopia

Similar in size to Mauritania

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