Italy is 5.89× the size of Costa Rica

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Costa Rica about 51,200 km² (19,700 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
51,200km²Costa Rica

200 km

Italy
Costa Rica

What fits

Costa Rica fits inside Italy about 5.89 times by area.
Italy is larger by 250,000 km² (96,500 mi²), which is 489% of the area of Costa Rica.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Costa Rica about 1.67.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 5.3 million, 11.2× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 103 in Costa Rica: Italy is 1.90× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 9,770 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Costa Rica at 10°N about 1.0×, so the map shows Italy as 10.6× the size of Costa Rica instead of 5.89×.
Together Italy and Costa Rica cover 352,000 km², close to the size of Germany (358,000 km², 1.5% bigger).
The gap between them, 250,000 km², is about the size of Ecuador (255,000 km²).
At Costa Rica's density, Italy would have 31.0 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Costa Rica would have 10.0 million (it has 5.3 million).
Italy's centre is 32.7° of latitude, about 3,640 km, farther north than Costa Rica's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	5.89×
More people	Italy	11.2×
More crowded	Italy	1.90×
Farther north	Italy	32.7° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Costa Rica
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	1.67×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.21×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.14×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.14×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.09×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.02×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.03×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	1 in 332

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

Side by side

	Italy	Costa Rica
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	51,200 km²19,700 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	5.3 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	195 per km²	103 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	51,200 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	San José
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	6°N to 11°N
Continent	Europe	North America

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 302,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 301,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 51,200 km² agrees with our measured area of 51,200 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Costa Rica

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