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

Zambia is 6.24 times bigger by total area compared to North Korea: 290,587 sq mi vs 46,541 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Zambia is 287,024 sq mi vs 46,491 sq mi for North Korea — a 6.17 times difference in territory size.

North Korea ranks 96/197 by total surface area vs 38/197 for Zambia.
North Korea occupies 0.08% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.5% for Zambia.
21.6% of North Korea's area is agricultural land vs 32.1% in Zambia.
N. Korea has 0.05% of the world's agricultural land area — Zambia has 0.5%.
49.6% of N. Korea is covered by forests, compared to 59.5% in Zambia.
0.15% of the world's forests are in North Korea, and 1.1% are in Zambia.

True size map comparison: North Korea vs Zambia

See how North Korea and Zambia 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	Zambia
Total area	46,541 sq mi	290,587 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	6.24
Total area rank	96/197	38/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.15%
Land area	46,491 sq mi	287,024 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	6.17
Land area rank	97/197	37/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.08%	0.5%
Population	26,498,823	21,314,956
Population density	573 ppl/mi²	78.5 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	North Korea	Zambia
Forest area	23,036 sq mi	170,848 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	49.6%	59.5%
Forest area rank	70/196	17/196
World's forests share	0.15%	1.1%
Agricultural land area	10,021 sq mi	92,043 sq mi
Agricultural land share	21.6%	32.1%
Agricultural land area rank	109/194	47/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.05%	0.5%
Arable land	8,861 sq mi	14,672 sq mi
Arable land share	19.1%	5.11%
Arable land area rank	79/191	62/191
Permanent cropland	966 sq mi	150.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.08%	0.05%
Permanent cropland area rank	77/192	130/192
Water area	50.2 sq mi	3,563 sq mi
Water as share of total area	0.11%	1.23%
Water area rank	137/197	48/197
Roads length	15,879 mi	42,049 mi
Land borders length	999 mi	3,755 mi
Coastline length	1,550 mi	0 mi
Share of marine protected waters	0%	n/a

North Korea vs Zambia size on the map

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

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

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