Total & land area: Botswana vs Mauritania size comparison

Mauritania is 1.77 times bigger by total area compared to Botswana: 397,955 sq mi vs 224,610 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Mauritania is 397,955 sq mi vs 218,816 sq mi for Botswana — a 1.82 times difference in territory size.

Botswana ranks 47/197 by total surface area vs 28/197 for Mauritania.
Botswana occupies 0.38% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.69% for Mauritania.
45.6% of Botswana's area is agricultural land vs 38.5% in Mauritania.
Botswana has 0.54% of the world's agricultural land area — Mauritania has 0.83%.
26.3% of Botswana is covered by forests, compared to 0.29% in Mauritania.
0.37% of the world's forests are in Botswana, and 0.007% are in Mauritania.

True size map comparison: Botswana vs Mauritania

See how Botswana and Mauritania 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

	Botswana	Mauritania
Total area	224,610 sq mi	397,955 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	1.77
Total area rank	47/197	28/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.11%	0.2%
Land area	218,816 sq mi	397,955 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	1.82
Land area rank	47/197	28/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.38%	0.69%
Population	2,521,139	5,169,395
Population density	11.9 ppl/mi²	13.7 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Botswana	Mauritania
Forest area	57,528 sq mi	1,145 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	26.3%	0.29%
Forest area rank	44/196	149/196
World's forests share	0.37%	0.007%
Agricultural land area	99,854 sq mi	153,321 sq mi
Agricultural land share	45.6%	38.5%
Agricultural land area rank	43/194	28/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.54%	0.83%
Arable land	1,004 sq mi	1,737 sq mi
Arable land share	0.46%	0.44%
Arable land area rank	138/191	125/191
Permanent cropland	7.72 sq mi	38.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.004%	0.01%
Permanent cropland area rank	176/192	153/192
Water area	5,794 sq mi	0 sq mi
Water as share of total area	2.58%	0%
Water area rank	34/197	182/197
Roads length	19,727 mi	7,614 mi
Land borders length	2,701 mi	3,108 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	469 mi
Share of marine protected waters	n/a	3.7%

Botswana vs Mauritania size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/botswana/mauritania | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Botswana and Mauritania 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.