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

Syria is 1.54 times bigger by total area compared to North Korea: 71,498 sq mi vs 46,541 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Syria is 70,900 sq mi vs 46,491 sq mi for North Korea — a 1.53 times difference in territory size.

North Korea ranks 96/197 by total surface area vs 87/197 for Syria.
North Korea occupies 0.08% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.12% for Syria.
21.6% of North Korea's area is agricultural land vs 74.1% in Syria.
N. Korea has 0.05% of the world's agricultural land area — Syria has 0.29%.
49.6% of N. Korea is covered by forests, compared to 2.84% in Syria.
0.15% of the world's forests are in North Korea, and 0.01% are in Syria.

True size map comparison: North Korea vs Syria

See how North Korea and Syria 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	Syria
Total area	46,541 sq mi	71,498 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	1.54
Total area rank	96/197	87/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.04%
Land area	46,491 sq mi	70,900 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	1.53
Land area rank	97/197	87/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.08%	0.12%
Population	26,498,823	24,672,760
Population density	573 ppl/mi²	375 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	North Korea	Syria
Forest area	23,036 sq mi	2,016 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	49.6%	2.84%
Forest area rank	70/196	138/196
World's forests share	0.15%	0.01%
Agricultural land area	10,021 sq mi	52,533 sq mi
Agricultural land share	21.6%	74.1%
Agricultural land area rank	109/194	61/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.05%	0.29%
Arable land	8,861 sq mi	16,988 sq mi
Arable land share	19.1%	24%
Arable land area rank	79/191	53/191
Permanent cropland	966 sq mi	4,027 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.08%	5.68%
Permanent cropland area rank	77/192	34/192
Water area	50.2 sq mi	598 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.11%	0.84%
Water area rank	137/197	101/197
Roads length	15,879 mi	n/a
Land borders length	999 mi	1,468 mi
Coastline length	1,550 mi	119.9 mi
Share of marine protected waters	0%	0.2%

North Korea vs Syria size on the map

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

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

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