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  3. Papua New Guinea vs United States

Papua New Guinea's area vs the United States': size comparison by land type

Updated on by Georank team

The United States is 21.2 times bigger by total area compared to Papua New Guinea: 3,794,100 sq mi vs 178,704 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of the United States is 3,531,839 sq mi vs 174,850 sq mi for Papua New Guinea — a 20.2 times difference in territory size.

  • Papua New Guinea ranks 53/197 by total surface area vs 3/197 for the United States.
  • Papua New Guinea occupies 0.3% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 6.14% for the United States.
  • 3.1% of Papua New Guinea's area is agricultural land vs 46.1% in the United States.
  • Papua has 0.03% of the world's agricultural land area — the US has 8.83%.
  • 79% of Papua is covered by forests, compared to 33.9% in the US.
  • 0.89% of the world's forests are in Papua New Guinea, and 7.67% are in the United States.

True size map comparison: Papua New Guinea vs United States

See how Papua New Guinea and the United States 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

Papua New Guinea United States
Total area 178,704
sq mi 		3,794,100
sq mi
Size difference ratio 1 21.2
Total area rank 53/197 3/197
Share of all countries' surface area 0.09% 1.93%
Land area 174,850
sq mi 		3,531,839
sq mi
Land area difference ratio 1 20.2
Land area rank 54/197 3/197
Share of all countries' land area 0.3% 6.14%
Population 10,576,502 341,784,857
Population density 62.6 ppl/mi² 97.3 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

Papua New Guinea United States
Forest area 138,051
sq mi 		1,196,125
sq mi
Forest area as share of land 79% 33.9%
Forest area rank 19/196 4/196
World's forests share 0.89% 7.67%
Agricultural land area 5,425
sq mi 		1,627,576
sq mi
Agricultural land share 3.1% 46.1%
Agricultural land area rank 132/194 2/194
Share of global agricultural land 0.03% 8.83%
Arable land 1,274
sq mi 		585,190
sq mi
Arable land share 0.73% 16.6%
Arable land area rank 134/191 2/191
Permanent cropland 3,417
sq mi 		12,242
sq mi
Permanent cropland share 1.95% 0.35%
Permanent cropland area rank 40/192 14/192
Water area 3,853
sq mi 		262,262
sq mi
Water as share of total area 2.16% 6.91%
Water area rank 47/197 3/197
Roads length 5,809
mi 		4,092,730
mi
Land borders length 512
mi 		7,458
mi
Coastline length 3,201
mi 		12,380
mi
Share of marine protected waters 0.1% 19%

Size of Papua New Guinea compared to states in USA

If Papua New Guinea were a state in the US, it would be the 3rd biggest by land area: 1.49 smaller than Texas but 1.12 times larger than the size of California.

# State Land area Compared to Papua New Guinea
1 Alaska 570,641 sq mi x3.26
2 Texas 261,232 sq mi x1.49
* Papua New Guinea 174,850 sq mi *
3 California 155,779 sq mi 0.89
4 Montana 145,546 sq mi 0.83
5 New Mexico 121,298 sq mi 0.69
6 Arizona 113,594 sq mi 0.65
7 Nevada 109,781 sq mi 0.63
8 Colorado 103,642 sq mi 0.59
9 Wyoming 97,093 sq mi 0.56
10 Oregon 95,988 sq mi 0.55
11 Idaho 82,643 sq mi 0.47
12 Utah 82,169 sq mi 0.47
13 Kansas 81,759 sq mi 0.47
14 Minnesota 79,627 sq mi 0.46
15 Nebraska 76,824 sq mi 0.44
16 South Dakota 75,811 sq mi 0.43
17 North Dakota 69,001 sq mi 0.39
18 Missouri 68,742 sq mi 0.39
19 Oklahoma 68,595 sq mi 0.39
20 Washington 66,456 sq mi 0.38
21 Georgia 57,513 sq mi 0.33
22 Michigan 56,539 sq mi 0.32
23 Iowa 55,857 sq mi 0.32
24 Illinois 55,519 sq mi 0.32
25 Wisconsin 54,158 sq mi 0.31
26 Florida 53,625 sq mi 0.31
27 Arkansas 52,035 sq mi 0.3
28 Alabama 50,645 sq mi 0.29
29 North Carolina 48,618 sq mi 0.28
30 New York 47,126 sq mi 0.27
31 Mississippi 46,923 sq mi 0.27
32 Pennsylvania 44,743 sq mi 0.26
33 Louisiana 43,204 sq mi 0.25
34 Tennessee 41,235 sq mi 0.24
35 Ohio 40,861 sq mi 0.23
36 Virginia 39,490 sq mi 0.23
37 Kentucky 39,486 sq mi 0.23
38 Indiana 35,826 sq mi 0.2
39 Maine 30,843 sq mi 0.18
40 South Carolina 30,061 sq mi 0.17
41 West Virginia 24,038 sq mi 0.14
42 Maryland 9,707 sq mi 0.06
43 Vermont 9,217 sq mi 0.05
44 New Hampshire 8,953 sq mi 0.05
45 Massachusetts 7,800 sq mi 0.04
46 New Jersey 7,354 sq mi 0.04
47 Hawaii 6,423 sq mi 0.04
48 Connecticut 4,842 sq mi 0.03
49 Puerto Rico 3,459 sq mi 0.02
50 Delaware 1,949 sq mi 0.01
51 Rhode Island 1,045 sq mi 0.006
52 Guam 209.7 sq mi 0.001
53 Northern Mariana Islands 179.2 sq mi 0.001
54 US Virgin Islands 133.7 sq mi 0.0008
55 American Samoa 76.4 sq mi 0.0004
56 District of Columbia 61 sq mi 0.0003

Papua New Guinea vs United States size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/papua-new-guinea/united-states | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Papua New Guinea and the United States 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.

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Data sources:

  1. World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2023–2026, retrieved 2026-04-06)
  2. Wikidata (2026, retrieved 2026-02-08)
  3. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2025, retrieved 2026-02-20)
  4. United Nations | World Population Prospects (2026, retrieved 2026-03-10)
  5. U.S. Census Bureau (2025, retrieved 2026-02-08)

Total agricultural land encompasses all areas used for agriculture: territories under permanent and temporary crops and pastures. It includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit and nut trees, and vineyards, but excludes sites utilized for timber production.

Arable land encompasses fields utilized for temporary crop production, pastures, market or kitchen gardens, and temporarily fallowed land. Land abandoned due to shifting cultivation practices is not included.

Permanent cropland refers to farmland for the long-term cultivation of crops, such as coffee, cocoa, and rubber, which do not require replanting after each harvest. This category encompasses land with permanent crops like flowering shrubs, fruit and nut trees, and vines, but does not include land under trees for timber production.

Inland areas under water, such as large rivers, lakes, and some coastal waterways.

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