Italy is 2.52× the size of Malawi

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Malawi about 119,000 km² (46,100 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
119,000km²Malawi

200 km

Italy
Malawi

What fits

Malawi fits inside Italy about 2.52 times by area.
Italy is larger by 182,000 km² (70,200 mi²), which is 152% of the area of Malawi.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Malawi about 3.89.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 17.6 million, 3.35× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 147 in Malawi: Italy is 1.33× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 6,610 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Malawi at 13°S about 1.1×, so the map shows Italy as 4.43× the size of Malawi instead of 2.52×.
Together Italy and Malawi cover 421,000 km², close to the size of Iraq (437,000 km², 4.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 182,000 km², is about the size of Cambodia (181,000 km²).
At Malawi's density, Italy would have 44.3 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Malawi would have 23.3 million (it has 17.6 million).
Italy's centre is 55.9° of latitude, about 6,220 km, farther north than Malawi's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	2.52×
More people	Italy	3.35×
More crowded	Italy	1.33×
Farther north	Italy	55.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Malawi
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	3.89×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.49×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.33×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.32×
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	Malawi
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	119,000 km²46,100 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	17.6 millionWikidata, 2018
Density	195 per km²	147 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	118,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Lilongwe
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	17°S to 9°S
Continent	Europe	Africa

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2018, 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 118,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 119,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Malawi

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