Zambia is 2.01× the size of Japan

Zambia covers about 752,000 km² (290,000 mi²) and Japan about 374,000 km² (144,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

752,000km²Zambia
374,000km²Japan

500 km

Zambia
Japan

What fits

Japan fits inside Zambia about 2.01 times by area.
Zambia is larger by 378,000 km² (146,000 mi²), which is 101% of the area of Japan.
Measured in Belgiums: Zambia is about 24.5, Japan about 12.2.

How they differ

Zambia is larger, but Japan has the larger population: 123.8 million against 19.6 million, 6.31× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 26 in Zambia: Japan is 12.7× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 12,700 km apart.
A standard web map misstates the comparison: Zambia at 13°S is drawn about 1.1× too large and Japan at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows Zambia as 1.34× the size of Japan instead of 2.01×.
Together Zambia and Japan cover 1,125,000 km², close to the size of Ethiopia (1,127,000 km², 0.2% bigger).
The gap between them, 378,000 km², is about the size of Norway (382,000 km²).
At Japan's density, Zambia would have 249.2 million people (it has 19.6 million). At Zambia's density, Japan would have 9.7 million (it has 123.8 million).
Japan's centre is 50.9° of latitude, about 5,660 km, farther north than Zambia's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Zambia	2.01×
More people	Japan	6.31×
More crowded	Japan	12.7×
Farther north	Japan	50.9° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Japan	1.6× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Zambia	Japan
Belgium 30,700 km²	24.5×	12.2×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	3.08×	1.53×
Germany 358,000 km²	2.10×	1.04×
France 548,000 km²	1.37×	0.68×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.24×	0.12×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.09×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.08×	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

	Zambia	Japan
Area, main territory	752,000 km²290,000 mi²	374,000 km²144,000 mi²
Population	19.6 millionWikidata, 2022	123.8 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	26 per km²	331 per km²
Official area	753,000 km²Wikidata	378,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Lusaka	Tokyo
Latitude range	18°S to 8°S	24°N to 46°N
Continent	Africa	Asia

Population: Wikidata 2022 and Wikidata 2024, covering each whole country. Official figures: Wikidata (CC0).

Wikidata's official figure of 753,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 752,000 km², to within 2%.
Wikidata's official figure of 378,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 374,000 km², to within 2%.

Similar in size to Zambia

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