Iraq is 1.04× the size of Black Sea

Iraq (country) covers about 437,000 km² (169,000 mi²) and the Black Sea (sea) about 422,000 km² (163,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Black Sea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

437,000km²Iraq
422,000km²Black Sea

200 km

Iraq
Black Sea

What fits

Black Sea is 97% of the size of Iraq.
Iraq is larger by 15,200 km² (5,860 mi²), which is 3.6% of the area of Black Sea.
Measured in Belgiums: Iraq is about 14.3, Black Sea about 13.8.

How they differ

Their centres are about 1,410 km apart.
On a standard web map Black Sea looks larger than Iraq: Iraq at 33°N is drawn about 1.4× too large and Black Sea at 43°N about 1.9×, so the map shows Black Sea as 1.28× the size of Iraq, when Iraq is 1.04× the size of Black Sea.
Together Iraq and Black Sea cover 860,000 km², close to the size of Pakistan (873,000 km², 1.6% bigger).
The gap between them, 15,200 km², is about the size of East Timor (15,100 km²).
Black Sea's centre is 10.3° of latitude, about 1,140 km, farther north than Iraq's.
Iraq ranks 59th of 212 countries by area.
The Black Sea is a sea and ranks 14th of the 42 seas on sizeversus by area.
Laid out flat, Iraq stretches about 921 km north to south and 925 km east to west; the Black Sea about 693 km by 1,170 km.
Poured over Iraq, the 547,000 km³ that Wikidata records for the Black Sea would stand 1,251 m deep.
Our measured 422,000 km² is 3.3% below Wikidata’s published figure of 436,000 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	Iraq	1.04×
Farther north	Black Sea	10.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Black Sea	1.9× against 1.4×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Iraq	Black Sea
Belgium 30,700 km²	14.3×	13.8×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.79×	1.73×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.22×	1.18×
Japan 374,000 km²	1.17×	1.13×
France 548,000 km²	0.80×	0.77×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.14×	0.13×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.05×	0.05×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.05×	0.04×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.03×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	Iraq	Black Sea
Is a	CountryAsia	Seasea on sizeversus
Area, measured	437,000 km²169,000 mi²	422,000 km²163,000 mi²
Area, published	437,000 km²Wikidata	436,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	59th of 212countries	14th of 42seas
Greatest depth	–	2,206 mWikidata
Volume	–	547,000 km³
Latitude range	29°N to 37°N	41°N to 47°N
On the shore	–	6 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 Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia lie within 25 km of the outline of the Black 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 Iraq

Similar in size to Black 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