Senegal and Ellesmere Island are almost exactly the same size

Senegal (country) covers about 196,000 km² (75,800 mi²) and Ellesmere Island (island) about 196,000 km² (75,600 mi²). Their outlines are laid over each other below at one scale. The Ellesmere Island outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.

196,000km²Senegal
196,000km²Ellesmere Island

200 km

Senegal
Ellesmere Island

What fits

Ellesmere Island is 100% of the size of Senegal.
The measured areas differ by 468 km², less than half a percent: closer than the measurement itself is certain.
Measured in Belgiums: Senegal is about 6.40, Ellesmere Island about 6.38.

How they differ

Their centres are about 7,960 km apart.
On a standard web map Ellesmere Island looks larger than Senegal: Senegal at 14°N is drawn about 1.1× too large and Ellesmere Island at 80°N about 33.3×, so the map shows Ellesmere Island as 31.2× the size of Senegal, when Senegal is 1.00× the size of Ellesmere Island.
Together Senegal and Ellesmere Island cover 392,000 km², close to the size of Zimbabwe (389,000 km², 0.7% smaller).
Ellesmere Island's centre is 65.7° of latitude, about 7,300 km, farther north than Senegal's.
Senegal ranks 87th of 212 countries by area.
Ellesmere Island is an island and ranks 9th of the 81 islands on sizeversus by area.
Laid out flat, Senegal stretches about 487 km north to south and 665 km east to west; Ellesmere Island about 768 km by 528 km.
Wikidata’s published figure of 196,000 km² agrees with our measured 196,000 km², to within 2%.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Senegal	1.00×
Farther north	Ellesmere Island	65.7° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Ellesmere Island	33.3× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Senegal	Ellesmere Island
Belgium 30,700 km²	6.40×	6.38×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.80×	0.80×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.55×	0.55×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.53×	0.52×
France 548,000 km²	0.36×	0.36×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.06×	0.06×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×

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

Side by side

	Senegal	Ellesmere Island
Is a	CountryAfrica	Islandisland on sizeversus
Area, measured	196,000 km²75,800 mi²	196,000 km²75,600 mi²
Area, published	197,000 km²Wikidata	196,000 km²Wikidata
Rank by area	87th of 212countries	9th of 81islands
Latitude range	12°N to 17°N	76°N to 83°N
On the shore	–	1 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 Canada contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of Ellesmere Island. 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 Senegal

Similar in size to Ellesmere Island

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