Total & land area: Ireland vs South Sudan size comparison

South Sudan is 9.23 times bigger by total area compared to Ireland: 248,777 sq mi vs 26,949 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of South Sudan is 243,990 sq mi vs 26,599 sq mi for Ireland — a 9.17 times difference in territory size.

Ireland ranks 118/197 by total surface area vs 41/197 for South Sudan.
Ireland occupies 0.05% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.42% for South Sudan.
60.8% of Ireland's area is agricultural land vs 44.9% in South Sudan.
Ireland has 0.09% of the world's agricultural land area — S. Sudan has 0.59%.
11.5% of Ireland is covered by forests, compared to 11.3% in S. Sudan.
0.02% of the world's forests are in Ireland, and 0.18% are in South Sudan.

True size map comparison: Ireland vs South Sudan

See how Ireland and South Sudan 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 Sudan
Total area	26,949 sq mi	248,777 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	9.23
Total area rank	118/197	41/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.01%	0.13%
Land area	26,599 sq mi	243,990 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	9.17
Land area rank	119/197	41/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.05%	0.42%
Population	5,395,790	11,943,408
Population density	207 ppl/mi²	51 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Ireland	South Sudan
Forest area	3,066 sq mi	27,633 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	11.5%	11.3%
Forest area rank	130/196	63/196
World's forests share	0.02%	0.18%
Agricultural land area	16,174 sq mi	109,449 sq mi
Agricultural land share	60.8%	44.9%
Agricultural land area rank	93/194	40/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.09%	0.59%
Arable land	1,695 sq mi	9,611 sq mi
Arable land share	6.37%	3.94%
Arable land area rank	128/191	76/191
Permanent cropland	3.86 sq mi	328 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.01%	0.13%
Permanent cropland area rank	183/192	106/192
Water area	350 sq mi	4,787 sq mi
Water as share of total area	1.3%	1.92%
Water area rank	109/197	41/197
Roads length	62,031 mi	n/a
Land borders length	304 mi	3,739 mi
Coastline length	900 mi	0 mi
Share of marine protected waters	2.4%	n/a

Ireland vs South Sudan size on the map

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

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

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