Total & land area: Japan vs Mauritania size comparison

Mauritania is 2.73 times bigger by total area compared to Japan: 397,955 sq mi vs 145,936 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Mauritania is 397,955 sq mi vs 140,761 sq mi for Japan — a 2.83 times difference in territory size.

Japan ranks 62/197 by total surface area vs 28/197 for Mauritania.
Japan occupies 0.24% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.69% for Mauritania.
12.6% of Japan's area is agricultural land vs 38.5% in Mauritania.
Japan has 0.1% of the world's agricultural land area — Mauritania has 0.83%.
68.4% of Japan is covered by forests, compared to 0.29% in Mauritania.
0.62% of the world's forests are in Japan, and 0.007% are in Mauritania.

True size map comparison: Japan vs Mauritania

See how Japan and Mauritania 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

	Japan	Mauritania
Total area	145,936 sq mi	397,955 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	2.73
Total area rank	62/197	28/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.07%	0.2%
Land area	140,761 sq mi	397,955 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	2.83
Land area rank	61/197	28/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.24%	0.69%
Population	123,975,371	5,169,395
Population density	872 ppl/mi²	13.7 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Japan	Mauritania
Forest area	96,275 sq mi	1,145 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	68.4%	0.29%
Forest area rank	23/196	149/196
World's forests share	0.62%	0.007%
Agricultural land area	17,788 sq mi	153,321 sq mi
Agricultural land share	12.6%	38.5%
Agricultural land area rank	92/194	28/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.1%	0.83%
Arable land	15,614 sq mi	1,737 sq mi
Arable land share	11.1%	0.44%
Arable land area rank	56/191	125/191
Permanent cropland	981 sq mi	38.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.7%	0.01%
Permanent cropland area rank	75/192	153/192
Water area	5,175 sq mi	0 sq mi
Water as share of total area	3.55%	0%
Water area rank	37/197	182/197
Roads length	757,310 mi	7,614 mi
Land borders length	0 mi	3,108 mi
Coastline length	18,486 mi	469 mi
Share of marine protected waters	13.8%	3.7%

Japan vs Mauritania size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/japan/mauritania | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Japan and Mauritania 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.