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

North Korea is 3.33 times bigger by total area compared to Taiwan: 46,541 sq mi vs 13,974 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of North Korea is 46,491 sq mi vs 13,976 sq mi for Taiwan — a 3.33 times difference in territory size.

North Korea ranks 96/197 by total surface area vs 134/197 for Taiwan.
North Korea occupies 0.08% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.02% for Taiwan.
21.6% of North Korea's area is agricultural land vs 21.5% in Taiwan.
N. Korea has 0.05% of the world's agricultural land area — Taiwan has 0.02%.
49.6% of N. Korea is covered by forests, compared to 60.8% in Taiwan.
0.15% of the world's forests are in North Korea, and 0.05% are in Taiwan.

True size map comparison: North Korea vs Taiwan

See how North Korea and Taiwan 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	Taiwan
Total area	46,541 sq mi	13,974 sq mi
Size difference ratio	3.33	1
Total area rank	96/197	134/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.007%
Land area	46,491 sq mi	13,976 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	3.33	1
Land area rank	97/197	133/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.08%	0.02%
Population	26,498,823	23,331,886
Population density	573 ppl/mi²	1,662 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	North Korea	Taiwan
Forest area	23,036 sq mi	8,495 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	49.6%	60.8%
Forest area rank	70/196	103/196
World's forests share	0.15%	0.05%
Agricultural land area	10,021 sq mi	3,000 sq mi
Agricultural land share	21.6%	21.5%
Agricultural land area rank	109/194	143/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.05%	0.02%
Arable land	8,861 sq mi	n/a
Arable land share	19.1%	n/a
Arable land area rank	79/191	n/a
Permanent cropland	966 sq mi	962 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.08%	6.88%
Permanent cropland area rank	77/192	79/192
Water area	50.2 sq mi	0 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.11%	0%
Water area rank	137/197	193/197
Roads length	15,879 mi	25,771 mi
Land borders length	999 mi	0 mi
Coastline length	1,550 mi	973 mi
Share of marine protected waters	0%	n/a

North Korea vs Taiwan size on the map

Data sources: World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2026, retrieved 2026-04-06); National Statistics, Taiwan (2026, retrieved 2026-02-09).

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

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