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

Niger is 1.15 times bigger by total area compared to Ethiopia: 489,191 sq mi vs 426,373 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Niger is 489,076 sq mi vs 435,716 sq mi for Ethiopia — a 1.12 times difference in territory size.

Ethiopia ranks 26/197 by total surface area vs 21/197 for Niger.
Ethiopia occupies 0.76% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.85% for Niger.
34.1% of Ethiopia's area is agricultural land vs 36.8% in Niger.
Ethiopia has 0.81% of the world's agricultural land area — Niger has 0.98%.
14.9% of Ethiopia is covered by forests, compared to 0.82% in Niger.
0.42% of the world's forests are in Ethiopia, and 0.03% are in Niger.

True size map comparison: Ethiopia vs Niger

See how Ethiopia 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

	Ethiopia	Niger
Total area	426,373 sq mi	489,191 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	1.15
Total area rank	26/197	21/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.22%	0.25%
Land area	435,716 sq mi	489,076 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	1.12
Land area rank	25/197	20/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.76%	0.85%
Population	132,059,767	27,032,412
Population density	319 ppl/mi²	59 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Ethiopia	Niger
Forest area	65,056 sq mi	4,025 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	14.9%	0.82%
Forest area rank	40/196	124/196
World's forests share	0.42%	0.03%
Agricultural land area	148,483 sq mi	179,918 sq mi
Agricultural land share	34.1%	36.8%
Agricultural land area rank	34/194	19/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.81%	0.98%
Arable land	63,321 sq mi	68,340 sq mi
Arable land share	14.5%	14%
Arable land area rank	19/191	17/191
Permanent cropland	7,942 sq mi	450 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	1.82%	0.09%
Permanent cropland area rank	21/192	100/192
Water area	0 sq mi	115.8 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0%	0.02%
Water area rank	175/197	124/197
Roads length	74,671 mi	11,774 mi
Land borders length	3,682 mi	3,625 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	0 mi

Ethiopia vs Niger size on the map

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

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

The map above outlines the borders of Ethiopia 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.