Total & land area: Italy vs New Zealand size comparison

Italy is 1.13 times bigger by total area compared to New Zealand: 116,629 sq mi vs 103,483 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Italy is 114,178 sq mi vs 101,665 sq mi for New Zealand — a 1.12 times difference in territory size.

Italy ranks 72/197 by total surface area vs 74/197 for New Zealand.
Italy occupies 0.2% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.18% for New Zealand.
44.3% of Italy's area is agricultural land vs 36.9% in New Zealand.
Italy has 0.27% of the world's agricultural land area — New Zealand has 0.2%.
32.9% of Italy is covered by forests, compared to 37.8% in New Zealand.
0.24% of the world's forests are in Italy, and 0.25% are in New Zealand.

True size map comparison: Italy vs New Zealand

See how Italy and New Zealand 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

	Italy	New Zealand
Total area	116,629 sq mi	103,483 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1.13	1
Total area rank	72/197	74/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.06%	0.05%
Land area	114,178 sq mi	101,665 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1.12	1
Land area rank	72/197	74/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.2%	0.18%
Population	58,952,704	5,287,500
Population density	513 ppl/mi²	52.8 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Italy	New Zealand
Forest area	37,558 sq mi	38,418 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	32.9%	37.8%
Forest area rank	54/196	53/196
World's forests share	0.24%	0.25%
Agricultural land area	50,531 sq mi	37,494 sq mi
Agricultural land share	44.3%	36.9%
Agricultural land area rank	62/194	72/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.27%	0.2%
Arable land	27,353 sq mi	2,008 sq mi
Arable land share	24%	1.97%
Arable land area rank	35/191	123/191
Permanent cropland	9,265 sq mi	278 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	8.11%	0.27%
Permanent cropland area rank	17/192	115/192
Water area	2,451 sq mi	1,819 sq mi
Water as share of total area	2.1%	1.76%
Water area rank	58/197	65/197
Roads length	303,043 mi	60,159 mi
Land borders length	1,141 mi	0 mi
Coastline length	4,722 mi	9,404 mi
Share of marine protected waters	10.7%	30.4%

Italy vs New Zealand size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/italy/new-zealand | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Italy and New Zealand 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.