Turkey is 1.01× the size of New Guinea
Turkey (country) covers about 780,000 km² (301,000 mi²) and New Guinea (island) about 775,000 km² (299,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other. The New Guinea outline is Natural Earth’s, checked against the published area.
- 780,000km²Turkey
- 775,000km²New Guinea
500 km
- Turkey
- New Guinea
What fits
- New Guinea is 99% of the size of Turkey.
- Turkey is larger by 5,190 km² (2,000 mi²), which is 0.7% of the area of New Guinea.
- Measured in Belgiums: Turkey is about 25.4, New Guinea about 25.3.
How they differ
- Their centres are about 11,700 km apart.
- A standard web map misstates the comparison: Turkey at 39°N is drawn about 1.7× too large and New Guinea at 5°S about 1.0×, so the map shows Turkey as 1.66× the size of New Guinea instead of 1.01×.
- Together Turkey and New Guinea cover 1,555,000 km², close to the size of Mongolia (1,565,000 km², 0.6% bigger).
- Turkey's centre is 44.5° of latitude, about 4,950 km, farther north than New Guinea's.
- Turkey ranks 37th of 212 countries by area.
- New Guinea is an island and ranks 2nd of the 81 islands on sizeversus by area.
- Laid out flat, Turkey stretches about 726 km north to south and 1,660 km east to west; New Guinea about 1,150 km by 2,190 km.
- Wikidata’s published figure of 786,000 km² agrees with our measured 775,000 km², to within 2%.
Who wins on what
| Measure | Winner | By |
|---|---|---|
| Larger area | Turkey | 1.01× |
| Farther north | Turkey | 44.5° of latitude |
| Stretched more on a web map | Turkey | 1.7× against 1.0× |
Both against the same yardsticks
| Yardstick | Turkey | New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium 30,700 km² | 25.4× | 25.3× |
| United Kingdom 244,000 km² | 3.20× | 3.18× |
| Germany 358,000 km² | 2.18× | 2.17× |
| Japan 374,000 km² | 2.09× | 2.07× |
| France 548,000 km² | 1.42× | 1.41× |
| India 3,151,000 km² | 0.25× | 0.25× |
| Brazil 8,473,000 km² | 0.09× | 0.09× |
| United States 9,447,000 km² | 0.08× | 0.08× |
| Russia 16,980,000 km² | 0.05× | 0.05× |
Each figure is the place's area divided by the yardstick's.
Side by side
| Turkey | New Guinea | |
|---|---|---|
| Is a | CountryAsia | Islandisland on sizeversus |
| Area, measured | 780,000 km²301,000 mi² | 775,000 km²299,000 mi² |
| Area, published | 784,000 km²Wikidata | 786,000 km²Wikidata |
| Rank by area | 37th of 212countries | 2nd of 81islands |
| Latitude range | 36°N to 42°N | 11°S to 0°S |
| On the shore | – | 2 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 Indonesia and Papua New Guinea contain or lie within 4 km of the outline of New Guinea. 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 Turkey
Similar in size to New Guinea
More comparisons
Send it to someone who won’t believe it
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