Iceland and Savu Sea are almost exactly the same size

Iceland (country) covers about 102,000 km² (39,500 mi²) and the Savu Sea (sea) about 102,000 km² (39,400 mi²). Their outlines are laid over each other below at one scale. The Savu Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

102,000km²Iceland
102,000km²Savu Sea

200 km

Iceland
Savu Sea

What fits

Savu Sea is 100% of the size of Iceland.
The measured areas differ by 419 km², less than half a percent: closer than the measurement itself is certain.
Measured in Belgiums: Iceland is about 3.34, Savu Sea about 3.32.

How they differ

Their centres are about 13,100 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Iceland at 65°N is drawn about 5.6× too large and Savu Sea at 9°S about 1.0×, so the map shows Iceland as 5.47× the size of Savu Sea instead of 1.00×.
Together Iceland and Savu Sea cover 204,000 km², close to the size of Belarus (207,000 km², 1.5% bigger).
Iceland's centre is 74.5° of latitude, about 8,280 km, farther north than Savu Sea's.
Iceland ranks 107th of 212 countries by area.
The Savu Sea is a sea and ranks 29th of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Laid out flat, Iceland stretches about 351 km north to south and 512 km east to west; the Savu Sea about 287 km by 730 km.
Our measured 102,000 km² is 2.9% below Wikidata’s published figure of 105,000 km². Published areas of lakes and seas move with the water level and with what is counted, so a few percent is expected.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Iceland	1.00×
Farther north	Iceland	74.5° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Iceland	5.6× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Iceland	Savu Sea
Belgium 30,700 km²	3.34×	3.32×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.42×	0.42×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.29×	0.29×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.27×	0.27×
France 548,000 km²	0.19×	0.19×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.03×	0.03×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×

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

Side by side

	Iceland	Savu Sea
Is a	CountryEurope	Seasea on sizeversus
Area, measured	102,000 km²39,500 mi²	102,000 km²39,400 mi²
Area, published	103,000 km²Wikidata	105,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	107th of 212countries	29th of 42seas
Greatest depth	–	3,470 mWikidata
Latitude range	63°N to 67°N	11°S to 8°S
On the shore	–	2 on the shore

Published figures: Wikidata (CC0). A lake or a sea has no legal boundary: the measured area is that of Natural Earth’s outline, and it is shown beside the published one.

Natural Earth’s outlines of Indonesia and East Timor lie within 25 km of the outline of the Savu Sea. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.

Similar in size to Iceland

Similar in size to Savu Sea

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Lakes and seas: Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors (public domain), kept only where the measured area is within 10% of the published one. Countries and regions: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 and Admin 1, public domain.
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own; the outline is a cartographic one.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. The published figure comes from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11, and is shown beside the measured one.
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