Japan is 1.14× the size of Vietnam

Japan covers about 374,000 km² (144,000 mi²) and Vietnam about 329,000 km² (127,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

374,000km²Japan
329,000km²Vietnam

500 km

Japan
Vietnam

What fits

Vietnam is 88% of the size of Japan.
Japan is larger by 44,600 km² (17,200 mi²), which is 14% of the area of Vietnam.
Measured in Belgiums: Japan is about 12.2, Vietnam about 10.7.

How they differ

Japan also has the larger population: 123.8 million against 96.2 million, 1.29× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 293 in Vietnam: Japan is 1.13× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 3,840 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Japan at 37°N is drawn about 1.6× too large and Vietnam at 17°N about 1.1×, so the map shows Japan as 1.65× the size of Vietnam instead of 1.14×.
Together Japan and Vietnam cover 702,000 km², close to the size of Chile (736,000 km², 4.8% bigger).
The gap between them, 44,600 km², is about the size of Estonia (45,800 km²).
At Vietnam's density, Japan would have 109.3 million people (it has 123.8 million). At Japan's density, Vietnam would have 109.0 million (it has 96.2 million).
Japan's centre is 20.9° of latitude, about 2,320 km, farther north than Vietnam's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Japan	1.14×
More people	Japan	1.29×
More crowded	Japan	1.13×
Farther north	Japan	20.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Japan	1.6× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Japan	Vietnam
Belgium 30,700 km²	12.2×	10.7×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.53×	1.35×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.04×	0.92×
France 548,000 km²	0.68×	0.60×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.12×	0.10×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.04×	0.03×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	Japan	Vietnam
Area, main territory	374,000 km²144,000 mi²	329,000 km²127,000 mi²
Population	123.8 millionWikidata, 2024	96.2 millionWikidata, 2019
Density	331 per km²	293 per km²
Official area	378,000 km²Wikidata	332,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Tokyo	Hanoi
Latitude range	24°N to 46°N	9°N to 23°N
Continent	Asia	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2024 and Wikidata 2019, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 378,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 374,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 332,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 329,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Japan

Similar in size to Vietnam

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