Russia is 1.81× the size of China

Russia covers about 16,980,000 km² (6,556,000 mi²) and China about 9,375,000 km² (3,620,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

16,980,000km²Russia
9,375,000km²China

2,000 km

Russia
China

What fits

China is 55% of the size of Russia.
Russia is larger by 7,605,000 km² (2,936,000 mi²), which is 81% of the area of China.
Measured in Belgiums: Russia is about 554, China about 306.

How they differ

Russia is larger, but China has the larger population: 1.40 billion against 146.1 million, 9.61× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 150 in China against 8.6 in Russia: China is 17.4× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 3,300 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Russia at 66°N is drawn about 6.1× too large and China at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows Russia as 7.06× the size of China instead of 1.81×.
The gap between them, 7,605,000 km², is about the size of Australia (7,691,000 km²).
At China's density, Russia would have 2.54 billion people (it has 146.1 million). At Russia's density, China would have 80.7 million (it has 1.40 billion).
Russia's centre is 29.3° of latitude, about 3,260 km, farther north than China's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Russia	1.81×
More people	China	9.61×
More crowded	China	17.4×
Farther north	Russia	29.3° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Russia	6.1× against 1.6×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Russia	China
Belgium 30,700 km²	554×	306×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	69.7×	38.5×
Germany 358,000 km²	47.5×	26.2×
Japan 374,000 km²	45.5×	25.1×
France 548,000 km²	31.0×	17.1×
India 3,151,000 km²	5.39×	2.98×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	2.00×	1.11×
United States 9,447,000 km²	1.80×	0.99×

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

Side by side

	Russia	China
Area, main territory	16,980,000 km²6,556,000 mi²	9,375,000 km²3,620,000 mi²
Population	146.1 millionWikidata, 2025	1.40 billionWikidata, 2025
Density	8.6 per km²	150 per km²
Official area	17,098,000 km²Wikidata	9,563,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Moscow	Beijing
Latitude range	41°N to 82°N	16°N to 54°N
Continent	Europe	Asia

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

Wikidata's official figure of 17,098,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 16,980,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 9,563,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 9,375,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Russia

Similar in size to China

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