Total & land area: Afghanistan vs Malta size comparison

Afghanistan is 2,064 times bigger by total area compared to Malta: 251,827 sq mi vs 122 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Afghanistan is 251,827 sq mi vs 123.6 sq mi for Malta — a 2,038 times difference in territory size.

Afghanistan ranks 40/197 by total surface area vs 187/197 for Malta.
Afghanistan occupies 0.44% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.0002% for Malta.
58.4% of Afghanistan's area is agricultural land vs 25.9% in Malta.
Afghanistan has 0.8% of the world's agricultural land area — Malta has 0.0002%.
1.85% of Afghanistan is covered by forests, compared to 1.44% in Malta.
0.03% of the world's forests are in Afghanistan, and 0.00001% are in Malta.

True size map comparison: Afghanistan vs Malta

See how Afghanistan and Malta compare in true size on the map. Drag the outlines to different latitudes to see how the Mercator projection affects their apparent size.

Total size and land area comparison

	Afghanistan	Malta
Total area	251,827 sq mi	122 sq mi
Size difference ratio	2,064	1
Total area rank	40/197	187/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.13%	0.00006%
Land area	251,827 sq mi	123.6 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	2,038	1
Land area rank	40/197	187/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.44%	0.0002%
Population	42,647,492	568,847
Population density	179 ppl/mi²	4,704 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Afghanistan	Malta
Forest area	4,666 sq mi	1.78 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	1.85%	1.44%
Forest area rank	119/196	192/196
World's forests share	0.03%	0.00001%
Agricultural land area	147,167 sq mi	32 sq mi
Agricultural land share	58.4%	25.9%
Agricultural land area rank	35/194	180/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.8%	0.0002%
Arable land	30,294 sq mi	28.2 sq mi
Arable land share	12%	22.8%
Arable land area rank	33/191	170/191
Permanent cropland	1,042 sq mi	4.01 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.41%	3.25%
Permanent cropland area rank	73/192	181/192
Water area	0 sq mi	0 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0%	0%
Water area rank	168/197	181/197
Roads length	21,688 mi	1,401 mi
Land borders length	3,720 mi	0 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	122.3 mi
Share of marine protected waters	n/a	7.8%

Afghanistan vs Malta size on the map

Data sources: World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2026, retrieved 2026-04-06).

GeoRank.org/size/afghanistan/malta | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Afghanistan and Malta but is not accurate for size comparison because it's a 2d map with Mercator projection that distorts territories near the poles. The farther a country is from the equator, the more magnified it appears. More about country size projections.