Italy is 2.46× the size of Eritrea

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Eritrea about 123,000 km² (47,300 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
123,000km²Eritrea

200 km

Italy
Eritrea

What fits

Eritrea fits inside Italy about 2.46 times by area.
Italy is larger by 179,000 km² (69,000 mi²), which is 146% of the area of Eritrea.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Eritrea about 4.00.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 3.5 million, 16.8× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 29 in Eritrea: Italy is 6.85× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 3,960 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Eritrea at 15°N about 1.1×, so the map shows Italy as 4.23× the size of Eritrea instead of 2.46×.
Together Italy and Eritrea cover 424,000 km², close to the size of Iraq (437,000 km², 3.2% bigger).
The gap between them, 179,000 km², is about the size of Uruguay (177,000 km²).
At Eritrea's density, Italy would have 8.6 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Eritrea would have 23.9 million (it has 3.5 million).
Italy's centre is 27.3° of latitude, about 3,040 km, farther north than Eritrea's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	2.46×
More people	Italy	16.8×
More crowded	Italy	6.85×
Farther north	Italy	27.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Eritrea
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	4.00×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.50×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.34×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.33×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.22×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.04×
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×	0.01×

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

Side by side

	Italy	Eritrea
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	123,000 km²47,300 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	3.5 millionWikidata, 2019
Density	195 per km²	29 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	118,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Asmara
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	12°N to 18°N
Continent	Europe	Africa

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2019, 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%.
Our measured 123,000 km² is 4.2% above Wikidata's official figure of 118,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Eritrea

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