Sea
Adriatic Sea
Natural Earth’s outline of the Adriatic Sea measures about 141,000 km² (54,400 mi²), the 27th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, and about the same size as Tajikistan.
200 km
- Tajikistan
- Adriatic Sea
The numbers
- 141,000km²Area, measured54,400 mi² · Natural Earth outline
- 139,000km²Area, publishedWikidata · agrees within 2%
- 1,233mGreatest depthWikidata
The area is measured from the outline drawn above, on the WGS84 ellipsoid; the published figure is shown beside it, and a water body is kept only if the two are within 10%.
What the numbers say about the Adriatic Sea
- The Arabian Sea, the largest of the 42 seas ranked on sizeversus, is 29.3× the size of the Adriatic Sea; the Adriatic Sea ranks 27th.
- The Adriatic Sea sits between the Gulf of California (172,000 km²) and the Gulf of Bothnia (120,000 km²) in the ranking.
- Counted as a country, the Adriatic Sea would be larger than 117 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 96th by area, between Tajikistan (142,000 km²) and Bangladesh (137,000 km²).
- It is larger than 25 of the 51 US states and districts (the biggest of them is Arkansas, 138,000 km²) and smaller than 26.
- It is larger than 10 of the 31 provinces and regions of China (the biggest of them is Anhui, 140,000 km²) and smaller than 21.
- The closest Chinese province is Anhui (140,000 km²): the Adriatic Sea is about the same size as Anhui.
- Wikidata records a greatest depth of 1,233 m.
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 43°N is drawn about 1.9× too large in area, so the Adriatic Sea looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, the Adriatic Sea stretches about 668 km north to south and 637 km east to west.
- Wikidata’s published figure of 139,000 km² agrees with our measured 141,000 km², to within 2%.
About the same size as
Countries
On the shore
Natural Earth’s outlines of Italy, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro and Slovenia lie within 25 km of the outline of the Adriatic Sea. That is what its geometry says, and it is not a statement about who owns the water or where any border runs in it.
Where the Adriatic Sea ranks
The Adriatic Sea is the 27th largest of the 42 seas on sizeversus, ranked by measured area.
Compare the Adriatic Sea
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys), public domain (Marine Areas (geography_marine_polys)). Natural Earth draws marine areas for labels and cuts them at named sub-areas; the outline is kept because its area matches the published one.
- Boundary
- A lake or a sea has no legal boundary of its own. The outline is a cartographic one, and the page says so by showing the measured area beside the published one.
- Area basis
- Measured outline: computed on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline and shown rounded. Published figure: Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-11. An outline is kept within 10% of the published figure and matched to other places automatically within 5%.
- Depth, volume, height
- As recorded in Wikidata; a volume that cannot be right for the area and depth is left out.
- Shore
- Countries whose Natural Earth outline contains or comes close to the water's outline; computed, not a statement of ownership.
- Drawing
- Each outline is projected with an equal-area projection centred on its own centroid, so areas stay true and two can be laid over each other.
- Data built
- 2026-11-11