United States vs China: size comparison
United States and China are almost the same size: United States is only 2% larger.
- United States 9,833,520 km²
- China 9,596,960 km²
Drag a country, see its true size
Loading the map...
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
United States is centred around 40°N and China around 37°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws United States 1.7 times and China 1.6 times larger than they would appear at the equator.
So on a typical world map, United States looks 1.1 times the size of China. In reality United States is 1.02 times the size of China.
| Country | True area | Centred around | Mercator enlargement |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 9,833,520 km² | 40°N | ×1.7 |
| China | 9,596,960 km² | 37°N | ×1.6 |
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 United States
- Russia vs China
- Canada vs United States
- Canada vs China
- United States vs Brazil
- United States vs Australia
- India vs China
- 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 Canada
- Russia vs Brazil
Practice with Games
Ready to test what you learned? Jump into a game and put it into practice.
United States vs China: questions
Which is bigger, United States or China?
United States and China are almost the same size: United States is only 2% larger. United States covers 9,833,520 km² and China covers 9,596,960 km².
Why do United States and China look a different size on world maps?
United States is centred around 40°N and China around 37°N. At those latitudes the Mercator projection used by most world maps draws United States 1.7 times and China 1.6 times larger than they would appear at the equator. So on a typical world map, United States looks 1.1 times the size of China.
How many times does China fit into United States?
Only once: the two are within 2% of each other, so China covers almost all of United States.