Western Sahara is 1.05× the size of Azerbaijan

Western Sahara covers about 90,500 km² (34,900 mi²) and Azerbaijan about 86,200 km² (33,300 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

90,500km²Western Sahara
86,200km²Azerbaijan

200 km

Western Sahara
Azerbaijan

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

Azerbaijan is 95% of the size of Western Sahara.
Western Sahara is larger by 4,250 km² (1,640 mi²), which is 4.9% of the area of Azerbaijan.
Measured in Belgiums: Western Sahara is about 2.95, Azerbaijan about 2.81.

How they differ

Western Sahara is larger, but Azerbaijan has the larger population: 10.2 million against 612,000, 16.6× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 118 in Azerbaijan against 6.8 in Western Sahara: Azerbaijan is 17.5× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 5,790 km apart.
On a standard web map Azerbaijan looks larger than Western Sahara: Western Sahara at 24°N is drawn about 1.2× too large and Azerbaijan at 40°N about 1.7×, so the map shows Azerbaijan as 1.36× the size of Western Sahara, when Western Sahara is 1.05× the size of Azerbaijan.
Together Western Sahara and Azerbaijan cover 177,000 km², close to the size of Uruguay (177,000 km², 0.3% bigger).
The gap between them, 4,250 km², is about the size of Cape Verde (3,930 km²).
At Azerbaijan's density, Western Sahara would have 10.7 million people (it has 612,000). At Western Sahara's density, Azerbaijan would have 583,000 (it has 10.2 million).
Azerbaijan's centre is 16.1° of latitude, about 1,790 km, farther north than Western Sahara's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Western Sahara	1.05×
More people	Azerbaijan	16.6×
More crowded	Azerbaijan	17.5×
Farther north	Azerbaijan	16.1° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Azerbaijan	1.7× against 1.2×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Western Sahara	Azerbaijan
Belgium 30,700 km²	2.95×	2.81×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	0.37×	0.35×
Germany 358,000 km²	0.25×	0.24×
Japan 374,000 km²	0.24×	0.23×
France 548,000 km²	0.17×	0.16×
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×	0.01×

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

Side by side

	Western Sahara	Azerbaijan
Area, main territory	90,500 km²34,900 mi²	86,200 km²33,300 mi²
Population	612,000Wikidata, 2021	10.2 millionWikidata, 2023
Density	6.8 per km²	118 per km²
Official area	266,000 km²Wikidata	86,600 km²Wikidata
Capital	–	Baku
Latitude range	21°N to 28°N	38°N to 42°N
Continent	Africa	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2021 and Wikidata 2023, 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 86,600 km² agrees with our measured area of 86,200 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Western Sahara

Similar in size to Azerbaijan

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