Total & land area: Iraq vs Zambia size comparison [2026]

Zambia is 1.72 times bigger by total area compared to Iraq: 290,587 sq mi vs 168,754 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Zambia is 287,024 sq mi vs 167,619 sq mi for Iraq — a 1.71 times difference in territory size.

Iraq ranks 58/197 by total surface area vs 38/197 for Zambia.
Iraq occupies 0.29% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.5% for Zambia.
21.8% of Iraq's area is agricultural land vs 32.1% in Zambia.
Iraq has 0.2% of the world's agricultural land area — Zambia has 0.5%.
1.9% of Iraq is covered by forests, compared to 59.5% in Zambia.
0.02% of the world's forests are in Iraq, and 1.1% are in Zambia.

True size map comparison: Iraq vs Zambia

See how Iraq 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

	Iraq	Zambia
Total area	168,754 sq mi	290,587 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	1.72
Total area rank	58/197	38/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.09%	0.15%
Land area	167,619 sq mi	287,024 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	1.71
Land area rank	57/197	37/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.29%	0.5%
Population	46,042,015	21,314,956
Population density	286.5 ppl/mi²	78.5 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Iraq	Zambia
Forest area	3,185 sq mi	170,848 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	1.9%	59.5%
Forest area rank	129/196	17/196
World's forests share	0.02%	1.1%
Agricultural land area	36,592 sq mi	92,043 sq mi
Agricultural land share	21.8%	32.1%
Agricultural land area rank	75/194	47/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.2%	0.5%
Arable land	19,185 sq mi	14,672 sq mi
Arable land share	11.4%	5.11%
Arable land area rank	49/191	62/191
Permanent cropland	2,021 sq mi	150.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	1.21%	0.05%
Permanent cropland area rank	54/192	130/192
Water area	1,136 sq mi	3,563 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.67%	1.23%
Water area rank	80/197	48/197
Roads length	n/a	42,049 mi
Land borders length	2,367 mi	3,755 mi
Coastline length	36 mi	0 mi
Share of marine protected waters	0.3%	n/a

Iraq vs Zambia size on the map

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

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

The map above outlines the borders of Iraq 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.