Total & land area: N. Korea vs Sweden size comparison [2026]

Sweden is 3.71 times bigger by total area compared to North Korea: 172,752 sq mi vs 46,541 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Sweden is 157,248 sq mi vs 46,491 sq mi for North Korea — a 3.38 times difference in territory size.

North Korea ranks 96/197 by total surface area vs 56/197 for Sweden.
North Korea occupies 0.08% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.27% for Sweden.
21.6% of North Korea's area is agricultural land vs 7.32% in Sweden.
N. Korea has 0.05% of the world's agricultural land area — Sweden has 0.06%.
49.6% of N. Korea is covered by forests, compared to 68.7% in Sweden.
0.15% of the world's forests are in North Korea, and 0.69% are in Sweden.

True size map comparison: North Korea vs Sweden

See how North Korea and Sweden 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

	North Korea	Sweden
Total area	46,541 sq mi	172,752 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	3.71
Total area rank	96/197	56/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.09%
Land area	46,491 sq mi	157,248 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	3.38
Land area rank	97/197	58/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.08%	0.27%
Population	26,498,823	10,569,709
Population density	573 ppl/mi²	67.8 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	North Korea	Sweden
Forest area	23,036 sq mi	108,031 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	49.6%	68.7%
Forest area rank	70/196	21/196
World's forests share	0.15%	0.69%
Agricultural land area	10,021 sq mi	11,514 sq mi
Agricultural land share	21.6%	7.32%
Agricultural land area rank	109/194	104/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.05%	0.06%
Arable land	8,861 sq mi	9,753 sq mi
Arable land share	19.1%	6.2%
Arable land area rank	79/191	74/191
Permanent cropland	966 sq mi	11.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.08%	0.007%
Permanent cropland area rank	77/192	171/192
Water area	50.2 sq mi	15,504 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.11%	8.97%
Water area rank	137/197	15/197
Roads length	15,879 mi	356,129 mi
Land borders length	999 mi	1,374 mi
Coastline length	1,550 mi	2,000 mi
Share of marine protected waters	0%	16%

North Korea vs Sweden size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/north-korea/sweden | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of North Korea and Sweden 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.