Italy is 1.62× the size of Syria

Italy covers about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²) and Syria about 186,000 km² (71,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

301,000km²Italy
186,000km²Syria

200 km

Italy
Syria

What fits

Syria is 62% of the size of Italy.
Italy is larger by 115,000 km² (44,500 mi²), which is 62% of the area of Syria.
Measured in Belgiums: Italy is about 9.82, Syria about 6.06.

How they differ

Italy also has the larger population: 58.9 million against 23.9 million, 2.47× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 128 in Syria: Italy is 1.52× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 2,420 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Italy at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large and Syria at 35°N about 1.5×, so the map shows Italy as 2.01× the size of Syria instead of 1.62×.
Together Italy and Syria cover 487,000 km², close to the size of Spain (499,000 km², 2.5% bigger).
The gap between them, 115,000 km², is about the size of Benin (116,000 km²).
At Syria's density, Italy would have 38.7 million people (it has 58.9 million). At Italy's density, Syria would have 36.3 million (it has 23.9 million).
Italy's centre is 7.7° of latitude, about 850 km, farther north than Syria's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Italy	1.62×
More people	Italy	2.47×
More crowded	Italy	1.52×
Farther north	Italy	7.7° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.5×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Italy	Syria
Belgium 30,700 km²	9.82×	6.06×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.24×	0.76×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.84×	0.52×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.81×	0.50×
France 548,000 km²	0.55×	0.34×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.06×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	0.02×
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	Syria
Area, main territory	301,000 km²116,000 mi²	186,000 km²71,800 mi²
Population	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023	23.9 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	195 per km²	128 per km²
Official area	302,000 km²Wikidata	185,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Rome	Damascus
Latitude range	35°N to 47°N	32°N to 37°N
Continent	Europe	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2023 and Wikidata 2024, 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 185,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 186,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Italy

Similar in size to Syria

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