Total & land area: Malawi vs Switzerland size comparison

Malawi is 2.87 times bigger by total area compared to Switzerland: 45,747 sq mi vs 15,943 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Malawi is 36,402 sq mi vs 15,255 sq mi for Switzerland — a 2.39 times difference in territory size.

Malawi ranks 98/197 by total surface area vs 131/197 for Switzerland.
Malawi occupies 0.06% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.03% for Switzerland.
64.2% of Malawi's area is agricultural land vs 37.8% in Switzerland.
Malawi has 0.13% of the world's agricultural land area — Switzerland has 0.03%.
22.4% of Malawi is covered by forests, compared to 32.4% in Switzerland.
0.05% of the world's forests are in Malawi, and 0.03% are in Switzerland.

True size map comparison: Malawi vs Switzerland

See how Malawi and Switzerland 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

	Malawi	Switzerland
Total area	45,747 sq mi	15,943 sq mi
Size difference ratio	2.87	1
Total area rank	98/197	131/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.008%
Land area	36,402 sq mi	15,255 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	2.39	1
Land area rank	107/197	131/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.06%	0.03%
Population	21,655,286	9,005,582
Population density	626 ppl/mi²	596 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Malawi	Switzerland
Forest area	8,169 sq mi	4,940 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	22.4%	32.4%
Forest area rank	106/196	116/196
World's forests share	0.05%	0.03%
Agricultural land area	23,359 sq mi	5,765 sq mi
Agricultural land share	64.2%	37.8%
Agricultural land area rank	82/194	129/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.13%	0.03%
Arable land	15,444 sq mi	1,531 sq mi
Arable land share	42.4%	10%
Arable land area rank	59/191	130/191
Permanent cropland	772 sq mi	97.7 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.12%	0.64%
Permanent cropland area rank	87/192	144/192
Water area	9,345 sq mi	688 sq mi
Water as share of total area	20.4%	4.31%
Water area rank	23/197	96/197
Roads length	9,601 mi	52,266 mi
Land borders length	1,775 mi	1,100 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	0 mi

Malawi vs Switzerland size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/malawi/switzerland | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Malawi and Switzerland 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.