Federal District is 1.08× the size of Cantabria

Federal District (federal district of Brazil) covers about 5,790 km² (2,240 mi²) and Cantabria (autonomous community of Spain) about 5,350 km² (2,060 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

5,790km²Federal District
5,350km²Cantabria

20 km

Federal District
Cantabria

What fits

Cantabria is 92% of the size of Federal District.
Federal District is larger by 445 km² (172 mi²), which is 8.3% of the area of Cantabria.
Measured in Belgiums: Federal District is about 0.19, Cantabria about 0.17.

How they differ

Federal District also has the larger population: 2.8 million against 592,000, 4.76× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 486 in Federal District against 111 in Cantabria: Federal District is 4.40× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 7,930 km apart.
On a standard web map Cantabria looks larger than Federal District: Federal District at 16°S is drawn about 1.1× too large and Cantabria at 43°N about 1.9×, so the map shows Cantabria as 1.61× the size of Federal District, when Federal District is 1.08× the size of Cantabria.
Together Federal District and Cantabria cover 11,100 km², close to the size of Qatar (11,200 km², 0.1% bigger).
The gap between them, 445 km², is about the size of Barbados (444 km²).
At Cantabria's density, Federal District would have 641,000 people (it has 2.8 million). At Federal District's density, Cantabria would have 2.6 million (it has 592,000).
Cantabria's centre is 59.0° of latitude, about 6,560 km, farther north than Federal District's.
Federal District is the 27th largest of the 27 states and districts of Brazil and covers less than 0.1% of its area; it is the most densely populated of them.
Cantabria is the 15th largest of the 19 autonomous communities and cities of Spain and covers 1.1% of its area; it is the 10th most densely populated of them.
Cantabria lies about 59° of latitude (roughly 6,560 km) north of Federal District, on the other side of the equator.
Shared out evenly, each person in Federal District would have about 2,060 m² and each person in Cantabria about 9,040 m².
Laid side by side, Federal District and Cantabria would cover 11,100 km², about the same size as Qatar.
Together they have 3.4 million people, about as many people as Mongolia.

Side by side

	Federal District	Cantabria
Is a	Federal DistrictBrazil	Autonomous communitySpain
Area, measured	5,790 km²2,240 mi²	5,350 km²2,060 mi²
Official area	5,760 km²Wikidata	5,320 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	27th of 27in Brazil	15th of 19in Spain
Population	2.8 millionWikidata, 2022	592,000Wikidata, 2024
Rank by population	20th of 27in Brazil	16th of 19in Spain
Density	486 per km²	111 per km²
Capital	Brasília	Santander
Latitude range	16°S to 15°S	43°N to 44°N

Population: Wikidata 2022 and Wikidata 2024. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 5,760 km² agrees with our measured area of 5,790 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 5,320 km² agrees with our measured area of 5,350 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Federal District

Similar in size to Cantabria

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A region is drawn whole, every island included; a country is its main territory.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded.
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: 2026-11-12

Full method