Italy is 3.06× the size of South Korea

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and South Korea about 98,500 km² (38,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
98,500km²South Korea

200 km

Italy
South Korea

What fits

South Korea fits inside Italy about 3.06 times by area.
Italy is larger by 203,000 km² (78,200 mi²), which is 206% of the area of South Korea.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, South Korea about 3.21.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 51.5 million, 1.14× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 522 in South Korea against 195 in Italy: South Korea is 2.67× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 9,070 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and South Korea at 36°N about 1.5×, so the map shows Italy as 3.67× the size of South Korea instead of 3.06×.
Together Italy and South Korea cover 400,000 km², close to the size of Paraguay (400,000 km², 0.0% bigger).
The gap between them, 203,000 km², is about the size of Kyrgyzstan (199,000 km²).
At South Korea's density, Italy would have 157.3 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, South Korea would have 19.3 million (it has 51.5 million).
Italy's centre is 6.3° of latitude, about 710 km, farther north than South Korea's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	3.06×
More people	Italy	1.14×
More crowded	South Korea	2.67×
Farther north	Italy	6.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.5×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	South Korea
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	3.21×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.40×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.28×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.26×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.18×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.03×
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	South Korea
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	98,500 km²38,000 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	51.5 millionWikidata, 2017
Density	195 per km²	522 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	100,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Seoul
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	33°N to 39°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%.
Wikidata's official figure of 100,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 98,500 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to South Korea

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