Autonomous community of Spain
Canary Islands
Canary Islands is an autonomous community of Spain. It covers about 7,440 km² (2,870 mi²), the 13th largest of the 19 autonomous communities and cities in Natural Earth’s file for Spain, and 1.30× the size of Brunei. About 2.2 million people live there (Wikidata, 2024).
100 km
- Canary Islands
- Brunei
Facts
| Area, measured | 7,440 km²2,870 mi² |
|---|---|
| Official area | 7,450 km²Wikidata · agrees with our measure |
| Share of Spain | 1.5%of the area of the 19 autonomous communities and cities |
| Rank by area | 13th of 19autonomous communities and cities of Spain |
| Population | 2.2 millionWikidata, 2024 |
| Density | 300 people per km² |
| Capital | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Santa Cruz de Tenerife |
| Latitude range | 28°N to 29°N |
| Type | Autonomous communityES-CN |
What the numbers say about Canary Islands
- Canary Islands covers 1.5% of the area of Spain and ranks 8th of 19 by population, against 13th by area.
- It would take 68.2 autonomous communities and cities the size of Canary Islands to cover Spain.
- The largest, Castile and León, is 12.7× the size of Canary Islands; the smallest, Melilla, is 0.2% of it.
- Closest in size within Spain: Basque Country (7,060 km², 1.05×) and Community of Madrid (8,000 km², 1.08×).
- Counted as a country, Canary Islands would be larger than 70 of the 239 countries and territories listed on sizeversus, and would rank 170th by area, between Puerto Rico (9,010 km²) and French Southern and Antarctic Lands (6,990 km²).
- With 2.2 million people it would rank 146th of 238 by population.
- Canary Islands has 300 people per km², about the density of El Salvador, which has 294 per km².
- That makes Canary Islands the 5th most densely populated of the 19 autonomous communities and cities, 3.13× the average for Spain (96 per km²).
- On a standard web map (Web Mercator), a place at 28°N is drawn about 1.3× too large in area, so Canary Islands looks bigger there than it is.
- Laid out flat, Canary Islands stretches about 183 km north to south and 464 km east to west.
- Wikidata's official figure of 7,450 km² agrees with our measured area of 7,440 km², to within 2%.
About the same size as
Beside the regions of other countries
The closest region by area and by people in each of the other countries that have regional pages here, within a factor of 2. All 395 regions side by side.
- ChinaAreaShanghai1.10× · 6,750 km²PeopleTibet61% · 3.6 million (2020)
- United StatesAreaDelaware1.44× · 5,170 km²PeopleNew Mexico1.05× · 2.1 million (2020)
- IndiaAreaAndaman and Nicobar Islands1.05× · 7,110 km²PeopleNagaland1.13× · 2.0 million (2011)
- GermanyAreanone within 2×PeopleSaxony-Anhalt1.04× · 2.1 million (2022)
- FranceAreaCorsica (France)86% · 8,670 km²PeopleCentre-Val de Loire86% · 2.6 million (2022)
- ItalyAreaFriuli-Venezia Giulia1.01× · 7,340 km²PeopleCalabria1.14× · 1.9 million (2019)
- JapanAreaMiyagi0.99× · 7,500 km²PeopleNiigata1.02× · 2.2 million (2021)
- BrazilAreaFederal District1.28× · 5,790 km²PeopleSergipe1.01× · 2.2 million (2022)
- CanadaAreaPrince Edward Island1.30× · 5,730 km²PeopleManitoba1.66× · 1.3 million (2021)
- AustraliaAreanone within 2×PeopleSouth Australia1.18× · 1.9 million (2024)
- MexicoAreaColima1.26× · 5,880 km²PeopleYucatán0.96× · 2.3 million (2020)
- ThailandAreaSongkhla1.00× · 7,460 km²PeopleNakhon Ratchasima85% · 2.6 million (2020)
Where Canary Islands sits in Spain
All 19 drawn on one equal-area map, so sizes are comparable. Select another to open it.
Compare Canary Islands
- Sergipe vs Canary Islands
- Niigata vs Canary Islands
- Shizuoka vs Canary Islands
- Uttaradit vs Canary Islands
- Miyagi vs Canary Islands
- Songkhla vs Canary Islands
- Canary Islands vs Brunei
- Lebanon vs Canary Islands
- Slovenia vs Canary Islands
- Montenegro vs Canary Islands
- Canary Islands vs Prince Edward Island
- Canary Islands vs Shanghai
- Canary Islands vs Federal District
- Canary Islands vs Delaware
- Canary Islands vs Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Canary Islands vs Colima
- Corsica (France) vs Canary Islands
- Canary Islands vs Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- Canary Islands vs Kumamoto
Share this outline
Sources and method
- Outline
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain: the 2 provinces of this autonomous community in the file, joined along their shared borders.
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outline, shown rounded. The region’s whole area is counted, every island included.
- Official figures
- Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-12
- Population
- Wikidata, 2024. Spain’s units share the 2024 figures where Wikidata has them; the year is shown wherever the figure is.
- Matching
- Countries come from Natural Earth’s country file. Places whose status is contested and dependencies are never used as automatic matches. A region under 2,500 km² is matched against the small countries and island nations.
- Data built
- 2026-11-12