South Sudan is 1.68× the size of Japan

South Sudan covers about 627,000 km² (242,000 mi²) and Japan about 374,000 km² (144,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

627,000km²South Sudan
374,000km²Japan

500 km

South Sudan
Japan

What fits

Japan is 60% of the size of South Sudan.
South Sudan is larger by 253,000 km² (97,800 mi²), which is 68% of the area of Japan.
Measured in Belgiums: South Sudan is about 20.4, Japan about 12.2.

How they differ

South Sudan is larger, but Japan has the larger population: 123.8 million against 12.6 million, 9.84× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 20 in South Sudan: Japan is 16.5× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 11,000 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: South Sudan at 7°N is drawn about 1.0× too large and Japan at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows South Sudan as 1.08× the size of Japan instead of 1.68×.
Together South Sudan and Japan cover 1,000,000 km², close to the size of Egypt (1,001,000 km², 0.1% bigger).
The gap between them, 253,000 km², is about the size of Ecuador (255,000 km²).
At Japan's density, South Sudan would have 207.8 million people (it has 12.6 million). At South Sudan's density, Japan would have 7.5 million (it has 123.8 million).
Japan's centre is 30.1° of latitude, about 3,350 km, farther north than South Sudan's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	South Sudan	1.68×
More people	Japan	9.84×
More crowded	Japan	16.5×
Farther north	Japan	30.1° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Japan	1.6× against 1.0×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	South Sudan	Japan
Belgium 30,700 km²	20.4×	12.2×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	2.57×	1.53×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.75×	1.04×
France 548,000 km²	1.14×	0.68×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.20×	0.12×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.07×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.07×	0.04×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.04×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	South Sudan	Japan
Area, main territory	627,000 km²242,000 mi²	374,000 km²144,000 mi²
Population	12.6 millionWikidata, 2017	123.8 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	20 per km²	331 per km²
Official area	644,000 km²Wikidata	378,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Juba	Tokyo
Latitude range	3°N to 12°N	24°N to 46°N
Continent	Africa	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2017 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 627,000 km² is 2.7% below Wikidata's official figure of 644,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently.
Wikidata's official figure of 378,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 374,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to South Sudan

Similar in size to Japan

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