Total & land area: Switzerland vs Syria size comparison

Syria is 4.48 times bigger by total area compared to Switzerland: 71,498 sq mi vs 15,943 sq mi. Without inland water, the land area of Syria is 70,900 sq mi vs 15,255 sq mi for Switzerland — a 4.65 times difference in territory size.

Switzerland ranks 131/197 by total surface area vs 87/197 for Syria.
Switzerland occupies 0.03% of the land mass of all countries, compared with 0.12% for Syria.
37.8% of Switzerland's area is agricultural land vs 74.1% in Syria.
Switzerland has 0.03% of the world's agricultural land area — Syria has 0.29%.
32.4% of Switzerland is covered by forests, compared to 2.84% in Syria.
0.03% of the world's forests are in Switzerland, and 0.01% are in Syria.

True size map comparison: Switzerland vs Syria

See how Switzerland 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

	Switzerland	Syria
Total area	15,943 sq mi	71,498 sq mi
Size difference ratio	1	4.48
Total area rank	131/197	87/197
Share of all countries' surface area	0.008%	0.04%
Land area	15,255 sq mi	70,900 sq mi
Land area difference ratio	1	4.65
Land area rank	131/197	87/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.03%	0.12%
Population	9,005,582	24,672,760
Population density	596 ppl/mi²	375 ppl/mi²

Surface area by type

	Switzerland	Syria
Forest area	4,940 sq mi	2,016 sq mi
Forest area as share of land	32.4%	2.84%
Forest area rank	116/196	138/196
World's forests share	0.03%	0.01%
Agricultural land area	5,765 sq mi	52,533 sq mi
Agricultural land share	37.8%	74.1%
Agricultural land area rank	129/194	61/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.03%	0.29%
Arable land	1,531 sq mi	16,988 sq mi
Arable land share	10%	24%
Arable land area rank	130/191	53/191
Permanent cropland	97.7 sq mi	4,027 sq mi
Permanent cropland share	0.64%	5.68%
Permanent cropland area rank	144/192	34/192
Water area	688 sq mi	598 sq mi
Water as share of total area	4.31%	0.84%
Water area rank	96/197	101/197
Roads length	52,266 mi	n/a
Land borders length	1,100 mi	1,468 mi
Coastline length	0 mi	119.9 mi
Share of marine protected waters	n/a	0.2%

Switzerland vs Syria size on the map

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

GeoRank.org/size/switzerland/syria | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of Switzerland 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.