Total & land area: Australia vs Zambia size comparison

Australia is 10.2 times bigger by total area compared to Zambia: 2,969,907 sq mi vs 290,587 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Australia is 2,969,906 sq mi vs 287,024 sq mi for Zambia — a 10.3 times difference in territory size.

Australia ranks 6/197 by total surface area vs 38/197 for Zambia.
Australia occupies 5.16% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.5% for Zambia.
47.2% of Australia's area is agricultural land vs 32.1% in Zambia.
Australia has 7.61% of the world's agricultural land area — Zambia has 0.5%.
17.4% of Australia is covered by forests, compared to 59.5% in Zambia.
3.32% of the world's forests are in Australia, and 1.1% are in Zambia.

True size map comparison: Australia vs Zambia

See how Australia and Zambia 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

	Australia	Zambia
Total area	2,969,907 sq mi	290,587 sq mi
Size difference ratio	10.2	1
Total area rank	6/197	38/197
Share of all countries' surface area	1.51%	0.15%
Land area	2,969,906 sq mi	287,024 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	10.3	1
Land area rank	6/197	37/197
Share of all countries' land area	5.16%	0.5%
Population	27,196,812	21,314,956
Population density	9.34 ppl/mi²	78.5 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Australia	Zambia
Forest area	517,397 sq mi	170,848 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	17.4%	59.5%
Forest area rank	6/196	17/196
World's forests share	3.32%	1.1%
Agricultural land area	1,402,492 sq mi	92,043 sq mi
Agricultural land share	47.2%	32.1%
Agricultural land area rank	3/194	47/194
Share of global agricultural land	7.61%	0.5%
Arable land	119,652 sq mi	14,672 sq mi
Arable land share	4.03%	5.11%
Arable land area rank	10/191	62/191
Permanent cropland	1,486 sq mi	150.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.05%	0.05%
Permanent cropland area rank	61/192	130/192
Water area	1.54 sq mi	3,563 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.00005%	1.23%
Water area rank	152/197	48/197
Roads length	607,623 mi	42,049 mi
Land borders length	0 mi	3,755 mi
Coastline length	16,007 mi	0 mi
Share of marine protected waters	45.4%	n/a

Australia vs Zambia size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/australia/zambia | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Australia and Zambia 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.