Total & land area: Ireland vs South Korea size comparison

South Korea is 1.44 times bigger by total area compared to Ireland: 38,724 sq mi vs 26,949 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of South Korea is 37,684 sq mi vs 26,599 sq mi for Ireland — a 1.42 times difference in territory size.

Ireland ranks 118/197 by total surface area vs 107/197 for South Korea.
Ireland occupies 0.05% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.07% for South Korea.
60.8% of Ireland's area is agricultural land vs 16.1% in South Korea.
Ireland has 0.09% of the world's agricultural land area — S. Korea has 0.03%.
11.5% of Ireland is covered by forests, compared to 64.1% in S. Korea.
0.02% of the world's forests are in Ireland, and 0.15% are in South Korea.

True size map comparison: Ireland vs South Korea

See how Ireland and South Korea 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

	Ireland	South Korea
Total area	26,949 sq mi	38,724 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	1.44
Total area rank	118/197	107/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.01%	0.02%
Land area	26,599 sq mi	37,684 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	1.42
Land area rank	119/197	105/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.05%	0.07%
Population	5,395,790	51,751,065
Population density	207 ppl/mi²	1,371 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Ireland	South Korea
Forest area	3,066 sq mi	24,158 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	11.5%	64.1%
Forest area rank	130/196	67/196
World's forests share	0.02%	0.15%
Agricultural land area	16,174 sq mi	6,054 sq mi
Agricultural land share	60.8%	16.1%
Agricultural land area rank	93/194	128/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.09%	0.03%
Arable land	1,695 sq mi	5,622 sq mi
Arable land share	6.37%	14.9%
Arable land area rank	128/191	92/191
Permanent cropland	3.86 sq mi	792 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.01%	2.1%
Permanent cropland area rank	183/192	83/192
Water area	350 sq mi	1,041 sq mi
Water as share of total area	1.3%	2.69%
Water area rank	109/197	85/197
Roads length	62,031 mi	68,794 mi
Land borders length	304 mi	147.3 mi
Coastline length	900 mi	1,499 mi
Share of marine protected waters	2.4%	2.2%

Ireland vs South Korea size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/ireland/south-korea | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Ireland and South Korea 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.