Mongolia and Gulf of Mexico are almost exactly the same size

Mongolia (country) covers about 1,565,000 km² (604,000 mi²) and the Gulf of Mexico (gulf) about 1,562,000 km² (603,000 mi²). Their outlines are laid over each other below at one scale. The Gulf of Mexico outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

1,565,000km²Mongolia
1,562,000km²Gulf of Mexico

500 km

Mongolia
Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico: The United States government has used the name Gulf of America since 2025. Natural Earth’s file, which this site follows, still uses Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf of Mexico: Natural Earth draws the Bay of Campeche, the south-west corner of the gulf, as a separate polygon. This page adds it back; the Straits of Florida and the Yucatán Channel are not counted.

What fits

Gulf of Mexico is 100% of the size of Mongolia.
The measured areas differ by 2,650 km², less than half a percent: closer than the measurement itself is certain.
Measured in Belgiums: Mongolia is about 51.0, Gulf of Mexico about 50.9.

How they differ

Their centres are about 11,900 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Mongolia at 47°N is drawn about 2.1× too large and Gulf of Mexico at 25°N about 1.2×, so the map shows Mongolia as 1.77× the size of Gulf of Mexico instead of 1.00×.
Together Mongolia and Gulf of Mexico cover 3,127,000 km², close to the size of India (3,151,000 km², 0.8% bigger).
Mongolia's centre is 22.0° of latitude, about 2,450 km, farther north than Gulf of Mexico's.
Mongolia ranks 19th of 212 countries by area.
The Gulf of Mexico is a gulf and ranks 6th of the 43 seas on sizeversus by area if counted as one.
Laid out flat, Mongolia stretches about 1,180 km north to south and 2,380 km east to west; the Gulf of Mexico about 1,390 km by 1,820 km.
Counted as one, the 2 pieces measure 1,562,000 km². The published figure for the whole, 1,550,000 km² (Wikidata, for the whole), is 0.8% below it.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Mongolia	1.00×
Farther north	Mongolia	22.0° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Mongolia	2.1× against 1.2×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Mongolia	Gulf of Mexico
Belgium 30,700 km²	51.0×	50.9×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	6.42×	6.41×
Germany 358,000 km²	4.37×	4.37×
Japan 374,000 km²	4.19×	4.18×
France 548,000 km²	2.86×	2.85×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.50×	0.50×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.18×	0.18×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.17×	0.17×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.09×	0.09×

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

Side by side

	Mongolia	Gulf of Mexico
Is a	CountryAsia	Gulf2 pieces counted together
Area, measured	1,565,000 km²604,000 mi²	1,562,000 km²603,000 mi²
Area, published	1,564,000 km²Wikidata	1,550,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	19th of 212countries	6th of 43seas
Greatest depth	–	4,384 mWikidata
Latitude range	42°N to 52°N	18°N to 31°N
On the shore	–	3 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 the United States, Mexico and Cuba lie within 25 km of the outline of the Gulf of Mexico. 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 Mongolia

Similar in size to Gulf of Mexico

More comparisons

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

Full method