Italy is 1.32× the size of Laos

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Laos about 228,000 km² (88,100 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
228,000km²Laos

200 km

Italy
Laos

What fits

Laos is 76% of the size of Italy.
Italy is larger by 73,100 km² (28,200 mi²), which is 32% of the area of Laos.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Laos about 7.44.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 6.9 million, 8.58× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 30 in Laos: Italy is 6.50× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 8,750 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Laos at 18°N about 1.1×, so the map shows Italy as 2.20× the size of Laos instead of 1.32×.
Together Italy and Laos cover 529,000 km², close to the size of Thailand (514,000 km², 2.8% smaller).
The gap between them, 73,100 km², is about the size of Panama (74,500 km²).
At Laos's density, Italy would have 9.1 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Laos would have 44.6 million (it has 6.9 million).
Italy's centre is 24.2° of latitude, about 2,690 km, farther north than Laos's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	1.32×
More people	Italy	8.58×
More crowded	Italy	6.50×
Farther north	Italy	24.2° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Laos
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	7.44×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.94×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.64×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.61×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.42×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.07×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	0.03×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.03×	0.02×
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	Laos
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	228,000 km²88,100 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	6.9 millionWikidata, 2017
Density	195 per km²	30 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	237,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Vientiane
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	14°N to 22°N
Continent	Europe	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2017, 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 228,000 km² is 3.7% below Wikidata's official figure of 237,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Laos

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