Italy is 290× the size of São Tomé and Príncipe

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and São Tomé and Príncipe about 1,040 km² (400 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
1,040km²São Tomé and Príncipe

200 km

Italy
São Tomé and Príncipe

What fits

São Tomé and Príncipe fits inside Italy about 290 times by area.
Italy is larger by 300,000 km² (116,000 mi²), which is 28,938% of the area of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, São Tomé and Príncipe about 0.03.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 204,000, 288× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 197 in São Tomé and Príncipe against 195 in Italy: São Tomé and Príncipe is 1.01× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 4,730 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and São Tomé and Príncipe at 0°N about 1.0×, so the map shows Italy as 538× the size of São Tomé and Príncipe instead of 290×.
Together Italy and São Tomé and Príncipe cover 302,000 km², close to the size of Oman (311,000 km², 3.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 300,000 km², is about the size of Philippines (293,000 km²).
At São Tomé and Príncipe's density, Italy would have 59.3 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, São Tomé and Príncipe would have 203,000 (it has 204,000).
Italy's centre is 42.3° of latitude, about 4,700 km, farther north than São Tomé and Príncipe's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	290×
More people	Italy	288×
More crowded	São Tomé and Príncipe	1.01×
Farther north	Italy	42.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	São Tomé and Príncipe
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	0.03×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	1 in 235
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	1 in 345
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	1 in 360
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	1 in 528
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	1 in 3,038
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	1 in 8,169
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.03×	1 in 9,109
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	1 in 16,371

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

Side by side

	Italy	São Tomé and Príncipe
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	1,040 km²400 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	204,000Wikidata, 2017
Density	195 per km²	197 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	1,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	São Tomé
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	0°N to 2°N
Continent	Europe	Africa

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 1,040 km² is 3.6% above Wikidata's official figure of 1,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to São Tomé and Príncipe

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