Western Sahara is 1.08× the size of Austria

Western Sahara covers about 90,500 km² (34,900 mi²) and Austria about 84,000 km² (32,400 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

90,500km²Western Sahara
84,000km²Austria

200 km

Western Sahara
Austria

The boundary or political status of Western Sahara is contested. Size Versus draws the Natural Earth de facto outline and takes no position on it.

What fits

Austria is 93% of the size of Western Sahara.
Western Sahara is larger by 6,500 km² (2,510 mi²), which is 7.7% of the area of Austria.
Measured in Belgiums: Western Sahara is about 2.95, Austria about 2.74.

How they differ

Western Sahara is larger, but Austria has the larger population: 9.0 million against 612,000, 14.7× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 107 in Austria against 6.8 in Western Sahara: Austria is 15.8× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 3,490 km apart.
On a standard web map Austria looks larger than Western Sahara: Western Sahara at 24°N is drawn about 1.2× too large and Austria at 48°N about 2.2×, so the map shows Austria as 1.70× the size of Western Sahara, when Western Sahara is 1.08× the size of Austria.
Together Western Sahara and Austria cover 174,000 km², close to the size of Uruguay (177,000 km², 1.6% bigger).
The gap between them, 6,500 km², is about the size of Palestine (6,070 km²).
At Austria's density, Western Sahara would have 9.7 million people (it has 612,000). At Western Sahara's density, Austria would have 568,000 (it has 9.0 million).
Austria's centre is 23.4° of latitude, about 2,600 km, farther north than Western Sahara's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Western Sahara	1.08×
More people	Austria	14.7×
More crowded	Austria	15.8×
Farther north	Austria	23.4° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Austria	2.2× against 1.2×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Western Sahara	Austria
Belgium 30,700 km²	2.95×	2.74×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.37×	0.34×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.25×	0.23×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.24×	0.22×
France 548,000 km²	0.17×	0.15×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.03×	0.03×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.01×	0.01×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.01×	1 in 202

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

Side by side

	Western Sahara	Austria
Area, main territory	90,500 km²34,900 mi²	84,000 km²32,400 mi²
Population	612,000Wikidata, 2021	9.0 millionWikidata, 2022
Density	6.8 per km²	107 per km²
Official area	266,000 km²Wikidata	83,900 km²Wikidata
Capital	–	Vienna
Latitude range	21°N to 28°N	46°N to 49°N
Continent	Africa	Europe

Population: Wikidata 2021 and Wikidata 2022, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Our measured 90,500 km² is 66% below Wikidata's official figure of 266,000 km². Official figures can include inland water or count land that an outline draws differently. This difference is flagged for review.
Wikidata's official figure of 83,900 km² agrees with our measured area of 84,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Western Sahara

Similar in size to Austria

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