South China Sea

The numbers

• 3,169,000km²Area, measured1,224,000 mi² · Natural Earth outline
• 3,500,000km²Area, publishedWikidata · 9.4% above our measure, flagged
• 5,559mGreatest 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%. This one is between 5% and 10% apart, so it is flagged and no comparison is built for it automatically.

What the numbers say about the South China Sea

• The Arabian Sea, the largest of the 42 seas ranked on sizeversus, is 1.30× the size of the South China Sea; the South China Sea ranks 2nd.
• The South China Sea sits between the Arabian Sea (4,129,000 km²) and the Caribbean Sea (2,829,000 km²) in the ranking.
• Counted as a country, the South China Sea would be larger than 206 of the 212 countries listed on sizeversus and would rank 7th by area, between Australia (7,691,000 km²) and India (3,151,000 km²).
• It is larger than all 51 US states and districts.
• It is larger than all 31 provinces and regions of China.
• The closest US state is Alaska (1,505,000 km²): the South China Sea is 2.11× the size of Alaska.
• Wikidata records a greatest depth of 5,559 m.
• The South China Sea lies at 11°N, close to the equator, where a standard web map (Web Mercator) is nearly true to size: it inflates area by only about 1.0×.
• Laid out flat, the South China Sea stretches about 2,990 km north to south and 2,150 km east to west.
• Our measured 3,169,000 km² is 9.4% below Wikidata’s published figure of 3,500,000 km². This difference is flagged for review: a lake’s outline may include islands or bays that the published figure leaves out, or the water level may differ. The outline is kept because it is within 10%, and this page is not matched automatically to any other.

About the same size as

On the shore

• Indonesia
• China
• Philippines
• Vietnam
• Malaysia
• Hong Kong
• Taiwan
• Brunei

Natural Earth’s outlines of Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Brunei lie within 25 km of the outline of the South China 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.

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

Names

• South China Seathe name in this page’s titlesource: Wikidata’s English label
• Nan Haialso calledsource: Wikidata alias
• East Seaalso calledsource: Wikidata alias
• West Philippine Seaalso calledsource: Wikidata alias

Governments and organisations use different names for this body of water, or for parts of it. Size Versus uses the name that Natural Earth’s file gives as the title, lists the other names it can source, and takes no position on which is right. The wording is the same in every language.