Nova Scotia is 1.60× the size of North Rhine-Westphalia

Nova Scotia (province of Canada) covers about 55,100 km² (21,300 mi²) and North Rhine-Westphalia (state of Germany) about 34,500 km² (13,300 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

55,100km²Nova Scotia
34,500km²North Rhine-Westphalia

100 km

Nova Scotia
North Rhine-Westphalia

What fits

North Rhine-Westphalia is 63% of the size of Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia is larger by 20,600 km² (7,940 mi²), which is 60% of the area of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Measured in Belgiums: Nova Scotia is about 1.80, North Rhine-Westphalia about 1.13.

How they differ

Nova Scotia is larger, but North Rhine-Westphalia has the larger population: 17.9 million against 969,000, 18.5× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 518 in North Rhine-Westphalia against 18 in Nova Scotia: North Rhine-Westphalia is 29.4× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 5,080 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Nova Scotia at 45°N is drawn about 2.0× too large and North Rhine-Westphalia at 51°N about 2.6×, so the map shows Nova Scotia as 1.25× the size of North Rhine-Westphalia instead of 1.60×.
Together Nova Scotia and North Rhine-Westphalia cover 89,600 km², close to the size of Jordan (88,900 km², 0.9% smaller).
The gap between them, 20,600 km², is about the size of El Salvador (20,500 km²).
At North Rhine-Westphalia's density, Nova Scotia would have 28.5 million people (it has 969,000). At Nova Scotia's density, North Rhine-Westphalia would have 608,000 (it has 17.9 million).
North Rhine-Westphalia's centre is 6.3° of latitude, about 700 km, farther north than Nova Scotia's.
Nova Scotia is the 12th largest of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and covers 0.6% of its area; it is the 2nd most densely populated of them.
North Rhine-Westphalia is the 4th largest of the 16 states of Germany and covers 9.7% of its area; it is the 4th most densely populated of them.
North Rhine-Westphalia lies about 6° of latitude (roughly 702 km) north of Nova Scotia.
Shared out evenly, each person in Nova Scotia would have about 56,850 m² and each person in North Rhine-Westphalia about 1,930 m².
Laid side by side, Nova Scotia and North Rhine-Westphalia would cover 89,600 km², about the same size as Jordan.
Together they have 18.9 million people, about as many people as Romania.

Side by side

	Nova Scotia	North Rhine-Westphalia
Is a	ProvinceCanada	StateGermany
Area, measured	55,100 km²21,300 mi²	34,500 km²13,300 mi²
Official area	55,300 km²Wikidata	34,100 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	12th of 13in Canada	4th of 16in Germany
Population	969,000Wikidata, 2021	17.9 millionWikidata, 2022
Rank by population	7th of 13in Canada	1st of 16in Germany
Density	18 per km²	518 per km²
Capital	Halifax	Düsseldorf
Latitude range	43°N to 47°N	50°N to 53°N

Population: Wikidata 2021 and Wikidata 2022. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 55,300 km² agrees with our measured area of 55,100 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 34,100 km² agrees with our measured area of 34,500 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Nova Scotia

Similar in size to North Rhine-Westphalia

More comparisons

Sources and method

Outlines: Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain
Boundary: De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth. A region is drawn whole, every island included; a country is its main territory.
Area: Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded.
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: 2026-11-12

Full method