North Korea is 1.05× the size of Benin

North Korea covers about 122,000 km² (47,300 mi²) and Benin about 116,000 km² (44,800 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

122,000km²North Korea
116,000km²Benin

100 km

North Korea
Benin

What fits

Benin is 95% of the size of North Korea.
North Korea is larger by 6,270 km² (2,420 mi²), which is 5.4% of the area of Benin.
Measured in Belgiums: North Korea is about 3.99, Benin about 3.79.

How they differ

North Korea also has the larger population: 26.4 million against 14.1 million, 1.87× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 216 in North Korea against 122 in Benin: North Korea is 1.78× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 12,100 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: North Korea at 40°N is drawn about 1.7× too large and Benin at 10°N about 1.0×, so the map shows North Korea as 1.75× the size of Benin instead of 1.05×.
Together North Korea and Benin cover 238,000 km², close to the size of Ghana (239,000 km², 0.1% bigger).
The gap between them, 6,270 km², is about the size of Palestine (6,070 km²).
At Benin's density, North Korea would have 14.9 million people (it has 26.4 million). At North Korea's density, Benin would have 25.1 million (it has 14.1 million).
North Korea's centre is 30.5° of latitude, about 3,390 km, farther north than Benin's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	North Korea	1.05×
More people	North Korea	1.87×
More crowded	North Korea	1.78×
Farther north	North Korea	30.5° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	North Korea	1.7× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	North Korea	Benin
Belgium 30,700 km²	3.99×	3.79×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.50×	0.48×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.34×	0.32×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.33×	0.31×
France 548,000 km²	0.22×	0.21×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.04×	0.04×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×

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

Side by side

	North Korea	Benin
Area, main territory	122,000 km²47,300 mi²	116,000 km²44,800 mi²
Population	26.4 millionWikidata, 2023	14.1 millionWikidata, 2023
Density	216 per km²	122 per km²
Official area	121,000 km²Wikidata	115,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Pyongyang	Porto-Novo; Cotonou
Latitude range	38°N to 43°N	6°N to 12°N
Continent	Asia	Africa

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

Wikidata's official figure of 121,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 122,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 115,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 116,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to North Korea

Similar in size to Benin

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