Zimbabwe is 1.04× the size of Japan

Zimbabwe covers about 389,000 km² (150,000 mi²) and Japan about 374,000 km² (144,000 mi²). Below, both outlines are drawn at one scale and centred on each other.

389,000km²Zimbabwe
374,000km²Japan

500 km

Zimbabwe
Japan

What fits

Japan is 96% of the size of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is larger by 15,800 km² (6,110 mi²), which is 4.2% of the area of Japan.
Measured in Belgiums: Zimbabwe is about 12.7, Japan about 12.2.

How they differ

Zimbabwe is larger, but Japan has the larger population: 123.8 million against 15.2 million, 8.16× as many people.
Per square kilometre that is 331 in Japan against 39 in Zimbabwe: Japan is 8.50× as densely populated.
Their centres are about 12,800 km apart.
On a standard web map Japan looks larger than Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe at 19°S is drawn about 1.1× too large and Japan at 37°N about 1.6×, so the map shows Japan as 1.36× the size of Zimbabwe, when Zimbabwe is 1.04× the size of Japan.
Together Zimbabwe and Japan cover 763,000 km², close to the size of Zambia (752,000 km², 1.4% smaller).
The gap between them, 15,800 km², is about the size of East Timor (15,100 km²).
At Japan's density, Zimbabwe would have 129.0 million people (it has 15.2 million). At Zimbabwe's density, Japan would have 14.6 million (it has 123.8 million).
Japan's centre is 56.4° of latitude, about 6,270 km, farther north than Zimbabwe's.

Who wins on what

Measure	Winner	By
Larger area	Zimbabwe	1.04×
More people	Japan	8.16×
More crowded	Japan	8.50×
Farther north	Japan	56.4° of latitude
Stretched more on a web map	Japan	1.6× against 1.1×

Both against the same yardsticks

Yardstick	Zimbabwe	Japan
Belgium 30,700 km²	12.7×	12.2×
United Kingdom 244,000 km²	1.60×	1.53×
Germany 358,000 km²	1.09×	1.04×
France 548,000 km²	0.71×	0.68×
India 3,151,000 km²	0.12×	0.12×
Brazil 8,473,000 km²	0.05×	0.04×
United States 9,447,000 km²	0.04×	0.04×
Russia 16,980,000 km²	0.02×	0.02×

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

Side by side

	Zimbabwe	Japan
Area, main territory	389,000 km²150,000 mi²	374,000 km²144,000 mi²
Population	15.2 millionWikidata, 2022	123.8 millionWikidata, 2024
Density	39 per km²	331 per km²
Official area	391,000 km²Wikidata	378,000 km²Wikidata
Capital	Harare	Tokyo
Latitude range	22°S to 16°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 391,000 km² agrees with our measured area of 389,000 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 Zimbabwe

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