Canada vs United States: size comparison
Canada and United States are almost the same size: Canada is only 2% larger.
- Canada 9,984,670 km²
- United States 9,833,520 km²
Drag a country, see its true size
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Drag the coloured shape anywhere on the map. It keeps its real size on the globe, so the map redraws it bigger near the poles and smaller near the equator.
Why they look different on a map
Canada is centred around 58°N and United States around 40°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws Canada 3.5 times and United States 1.7 times larger than they would appear at the equator.
So on a typical world map, Canada looks 2.1 times the size of United States. In reality Canada is 1.02 times the size of United States.
| Country | True area | Centred around | Mercator enlargement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 9,984,670 km² | 58°N | ×3.5 |
| United States | 9,833,520 km² | 40°N | ×1.7 |
The stretch is 1 divided by the cosine of the latitude, squared. At 60° north a country is drawn four times larger than the same country would be at the equator.
More size comparisons
- Greenland vs United States
- Russia vs Canada
- Russia vs United States
- Canada vs China
- United States vs China
- United States vs Brazil
- United States vs Australia
- India vs United States
- Greenland vs DR Congo
- Greenland vs Australia
- Greenland vs Brazil
- Greenland vs India
- Greenland vs Mexico
- Greenland vs Saudi Arabia
- Greenland vs Algeria
- Russia vs China
- Russia vs Brazil
- Russia vs Australia
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Canada vs United States: questions
Which is bigger, Canada or United States?
Canada and United States are almost the same size: Canada is only 2% larger. Canada covers 9,984,670 km² and United States covers 9,833,520 km².
Why do Canada and United States look a different size on world maps?
Canada is centred around 58°N and United States around 40°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws Canada 3.5 times and United States 1.7 times larger than they would appear at the equator. So on a typical world map, Canada looks 2.1 times the size of United States.
How many times does United States fit into Canada?
Only once: the two are within 2% of each other, so United States covers almost all of Canada.