Malaysia is 1.09× the size of Italy

Malaysia covers about 328,000 km² (127,000 mi²) and Italy about 301,000 km² (116,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

328,000km²Malaysia
301,000km²Italy

5,000 km

Malaysia
Italy

What fits

Italy is 92% of the size of Malaysia.
Malaysia is larger by 26,700 km² (10,300 mi²), which is 8.9% of the area of Italy.
Measured in Belgiums: Malaysia is about 10.7, Italy about 9.82.

How they differ

Malaysia is larger, but Italy has the larger population: 58.9 million against 34.2 million, 1.72× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 195 in Italy against 104 in Malaysia: Italy is 1.87× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 10,300 km apart.
On a standard web map Italy looks larger than Malaysia: Malaysia at 4°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Italy at 43°N about 1.9×, so the map shows Italy as 1.69× the size of Malaysia, when Malaysia is 1.09× the size of Italy.
Together Malaysia and Italy cover 629,000 km², close to the size of South Sudan (627,000 km², 0.4% smaller).
The gap between them, 26,700 km², is about the size of Equatorial Guinea (26,700 km²).
At Italy's density, Malaysia would have 64.1 million people (it has 34.2 million). At Malaysia's density, Italy would have 31.4 million (it has 58.9 million).
Italy's centre is 38.9° of latitude, about 4,320 km, farther north than Malaysia's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Malaysia	1.09×
More people	Italy	1.72×
More crowded	Italy	1.87×
Farther north	Italy	38.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Italy	1.9× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Malaysia	Italy
Belgium 30,700 km²	10.7×	9.82×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.34×	1.24×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.92×	0.84×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.88×	0.81×
France 548,000 km²	0.60×	0.55×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.10×	0.10×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.04×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.03×	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

	Malaysia	Italy
Area, main territory	328,000 km²127,000 mi²	301,000 km²116,000 mi²
Population	34.2 millionWikidata, 2025	58.9 millionWikidata, 2023
Density	104 per km²	195 per km²
Official area	331,000 km²Wikidata	302,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Putrajaya; Kuala Lumpur	Rome
Latitude range	1°N to 7°N	35°N to 47°N
Continent	Asia	Europe

Population: Wikidata 2025 and Wikidata 2023, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 331,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 328,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 302,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 301,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Malaysia

Similar in size to Italy

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