Ireland is 1.06× the size of Sri Lanka (island)

Ireland (country) covers about 69,400 km² (26,800 mi²) and Sri Lanka (island) (island) about 65,700 km² (25,400 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Sri Lanka (island) outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

69,400km²Ireland
65,700km²Sri Lanka (island)

100 km

Ireland
Sri Lanka (island)

What fits

Sri Lanka (island) is 95% of the size of Ireland.
Ireland is larger by 3,710 km² (1,430 mi²), which is 5.6% of the area of Sri Lanka (island).
Measured in Belgiums: Ireland is about 2.26, Sri Lanka (island) about 2.14.

How they differ

Their centres are about 9,250 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Ireland at 53°N is drawn about 2.8× too large and Sri Lanka (island) at 8°N about 1.0×, so the map shows Ireland as 2.89× the size of Sri Lanka (island) instead of 1.06×.
Together Ireland and Sri Lanka (island) cover 135,000 km², close to the size of Bangladesh (137,000 km², 1.3% bigger).
The gap between them, 3,710 km², is about the size of Cape Verde (3,930 km²).
Ireland's centre is 45.6° of latitude, about 5,070 km, farther north than Sri Lanka (island)'s.
Ireland ranks 122nd of 212 countries by area.
Sri Lanka (island) is an island and ranks 24th of the 81 islands on sizeversus by area.
Laid out flat, Ireland stretches about 437 km north to south and 303 km east to west; Sri Lanka (island) about 430 km by 239 km.
Our measured 65,700 km² is 2.8% below Wikidata’s published figure of 67,700 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	Ireland	1.06×
Farther north	Ireland	45.6° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Ireland	2.8× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Ireland	Sri Lanka (island)
Belgium 30,700 km²	2.26×	2.14×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.28×	0.27×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.19×	0.18×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.19×	0.18×
France 548,000 km²	0.13×	0.12×
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 245	1 in 258

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

Side by side

	Ireland	Sri Lanka (island)
Is a	CountryEurope	Islandisland on sizeversus
Area, measured	69,400 km²26,800 mi²	65,700 km²25,400 mi²
Area, published	69,800 km²Wikidata	67,700 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	122nd of 212countries	24th of 81islands
Latitude range	51°N to 55°N	6°N to 10°N
On the shore	–	1 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 Sri Lanka contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of Sri Lanka (island). 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 Ireland

Similar in size to Sri Lanka (island)

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