Italy is 10.0× the size of Lesotho

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Lesotho about 30,100 km² (11,600 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
30,100km²Lesotho

200 km

Italy
Lesotho

What fits

Lesotho fits inside Italy about 10.0 times by area.
Italy is larger by 271,000 km² (105,000 mi²), which is 900% of the area of Lesotho.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Lesotho about 0.98.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 2.0 million, 29.3× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 67 in Lesotho: Italy is 2.93× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 8,200 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Lesotho at 30°S about 1.3×, so the map shows Italy as 14.0× the size of Lesotho instead of 10.0×.
Together Italy and Lesotho cover 331,000 km², close to the size of Finland (333,000 km², 0.5% bigger).
The gap between them, 271,000 km², is about the size of Burkina Faso (273,000 km²).
At Lesotho's density, Italy would have 20.1 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Lesotho would have 5.9 million (it has 2.0 million).
Italy's centre is 72.3° of latitude, about 8,040 km, farther north than Lesotho's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	10.0×
More people	Italy	29.3×
More crowded	Italy	2.93×
Farther north	Italy	72.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.3×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Lesotho
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	0.98×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.12×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.08×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.08×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.05×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.01×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	1 in 281
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.03×	1 in 314
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	1 in 564

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

Side by side

	Italy	Lesotho
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	30,100 km²11,600 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	2.0 millionWikidata, 2016
Density	195 per km²	67 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	30,400 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Maseru
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	31°S to 29°S
Continent	Europe	Africa

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2016, 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 30,400 km² agrees with our measured area of 30,100 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Lesotho

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