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

Sweden is 4.46 times bigger by total area compared to South Korea: 172,752 sq mi vs 38,724 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Sweden is 157,248 sq mi vs 37,684 sq mi for South Korea — a 4.17 times difference in territory size.

South Korea ranks 107/197 by total surface area vs 56/197 for Sweden.
South Korea occupies 0.07% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.27% for Sweden.
16.1% of South Korea's area is agricultural land vs 7.32% in Sweden.
S. Korea has 0.03% of the world's agricultural land area — Sweden has 0.06%.
64.1% of S. Korea is covered by forests, compared to 68.7% in Sweden.
0.15% of the world's forests are in South Korea, and 0.69% are in Sweden.

True size map comparison: South Korea vs Sweden

See how South 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

	South Korea	Sweden
Total area	38,724 sq mi	172,752 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	4.46
Total area rank	107/197	56/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.02%	0.09%
Land area	37,684 sq mi	157,248 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	4.17
Land area rank	105/197	58/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.07%	0.27%
Population	51,751,065	10,569,709
Population density	1,371 ppl/mi²	67.8 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	South Korea	Sweden
Forest area	24,158 sq mi	108,031 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	64.1%	68.7%
Forest area rank	67/196	21/196
World's forests share	0.15%	0.69%
Agricultural land area	6,054 sq mi	11,514 sq mi
Agricultural land share	16.1%	7.32%
Agricultural land area rank	128/194	104/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.03%	0.06%
Arable land	5,622 sq mi	9,753 sq mi
Arable land share	14.9%	6.2%
Arable land area rank	92/191	74/191
Permanent cropland	792 sq mi	11.6 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	2.1%	0.007%
Permanent cropland area rank	83/192	171/192
Water area	1,041 sq mi	15,504 sq mi
Water as share of total area	2.69%	8.97%
Water area rank	85/197	15/197
Roads length	68,794 mi	356,129 mi
Land borders length	147.3 mi	1,374 mi
Coastline length	1,499 mi	2,000 mi
Share of marine protected waters	2.2%	16%

South Korea vs Sweden size on the map

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

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

The map above outlines the borders of South 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.