Lake Baikal is 1.03× the size of Belgium
Lake Baikal (lake) covers about 31,500 km² (12,200 mi²) and Belgium (country) about 30,700 km² (11,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The Lake Baikal outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.
- 31,500km²Lake Baikal
- 30,700km²Belgium
100 km
- Lake Baikal
- Belgium
What fits
- Belgium is 97% of the size of Lake Baikal.
- Lake Baikal is larger by 880 km² (340 mi²), which is 2.9% of the area of Belgium.
- Measured in Switzerlands: Lake Baikal is about 0.76, Belgium about 0.74.
How they differ
- Their centres are about 6,410 km apart.
- Together Lake Baikal and Belgium cover 62,200 km², close to the size of Latvia (64,600 km², 3.8% bigger).
- The gap between them, 880 km², is about the size of Åland (942 km²).
- Lake Baikal's centre is 2.8° of latitude, about 310 km, farther north than Belgium's.
- Lake Baikal is a lake and ranks 7th of the 104 lakes on sizeversus by area.
- Belgium ranks 140th of 212 countries by area.
- Laid out flat, Lake Baikal stretches about 478 km north to south and 416 km east to west; Belgium about 222 km by 271 km.
- Poured over Belgium, the 23,615 km³ that Wikidata records for Lake Baikal would stand 770 m deep.
- Wikidata’s published figure of 31,700 km² agrees with our measured 31,500 km², to within 2%.
Who wins on what
| Measure | Winner | By |
|---|---|---|
| Larger area | Lake Baikal | 1.03× |
| Farther north | Lake Baikal | 2.8° of latitude |
| Stretched more on a web map | Lake Baikal | 2.8× against 2.5× |
Both against the same yardsticks
| Yardstick | Lake Baikal | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom 244,000 km² | 0.13× | 0.13× |
| Germany 358,000 km² | 0.09× | 0.09× |
| Japan 374,000 km² | 0.08× | 0.08× |
| France 548,000 km² | 0.06× | 0.06× |
| India 3,151,000 km² | 0.01× | 0.01× |
| Brazil 8,473,000 km² | 1 in 269 | 1 in 276 |
| United States 9,447,000 km² | 1 in 299 | 1 in 308 |
| Russia 16,980,000 km² | 1 in 538 | 1 in 554 |
Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.
Side by side
| Lake Baikal | Belgium | |
|---|---|---|
| Is a | Lakelake on sizeversus | CountryEurope |
| Area, measured | 31,500 km²12,200 mi² | 30,700 km²11,800 mi² |
| Area, published | 31,700 km²Wikidata | 30,700 km²Wikidata |
| Rank by area | 7th of 104lakes | 140th of 212countries |
| Greatest depth | 1,642 mWikidata | – |
| Volume | 23,615 km³ | – |
| Latitude range | 51°N to 56°N | 49°N to 51°N |
| On the shore | 1 on the shore | – |
Published figures: Wikidata (CC0). A lake or a sea has no legal boundary: the measured area is that of Natural Earth’s outline, and it is shown beside the published one.
- Natural Earth’s outlines of Russia contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of Lake Baikal. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.
Similar in size to Lake Baikal
Similar in size to Belgium
More comparisons
Send it to someone who won’t believe it
Sources and method
- Outlines
- Lakes and seas: Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors (public domain), kept only where the measured area is within 10% of the published one. Countries and regions: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 0 and Admin 1, public domain.
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own; the outline is a cartographic one.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. The published figure comes from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11, and is shown beside the measured one.
- 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