Total & land area: Botswana vs Niger size comparison [2026]

Niger is 2.18 times bigger by total area compared to Botswana: 489,191 sq mi vs 224,610 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Niger is 489,076 sq mi vs 218,816 sq mi for Botswana — a 2.24 times difference in territory size.

Botswana ranks 47/197 by total surface area vs 21/197 for Niger.
Botswana occupies 0.38% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.85% for Niger.
45.6% of Botswana's area is agricultural land vs 36.8% in Niger.
Botswana has 0.54% of the world's agricultural land area — Niger has 0.98%.
26.3% of Botswana is covered by forests, compared to 0.82% in Niger.
0.37% of the world's forests are in Botswana, and 0.03% are in Niger.

True size map comparison: Botswana vs Niger

See how Botswana and Niger 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	Niger
Total area	224,610 sq mi	489,191 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	2.18
Total area rank	47/197	21/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.11%	0.25%
Land area	218,816 sq mi	489,076 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	2.24
Land area rank	47/197	20/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.38%	0.85%
Population	2,521,139	27,032,412
Population density	11.9 ppl/mi²	59 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Botswana	Niger
Forest area	57,528 sq mi	4,025 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	26.3%	0.82%
Forest area rank	44/196	124/196
World's forests share	0.37%	0.03%
Agricultural land area	99,854 sq mi	179,918 sq mi
Agricultural land share	45.6%	36.8%
Agricultural land area rank	43/194	19/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.54%	0.98%
Arable land	1,004 sq mi	68,340 sq mi
Arable land share	0.46%	14%
Arable land area rank	138/191	17/191
Permanent cropland	7.72 sq mi	450 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.004%	0.09%
Permanent cropland area rank	176/192	100/192
Water area	5,794 sq mi	115.8 sq mi
Water as share of total area	2.58%	0.02%
Water area rank	34/197	124/197
Roads length	19,727 mi	11,774 mi
Land borders length	2,701 mi	3,625 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	0 mi

Botswana vs Niger size on the map

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

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

The map above outlines the borders of Botswana and Niger 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.