DEFINITION: The area of various small countries expressed in comparison to various areas within the United States of America.
California, with nearly 40 million people and the world's sixth largest economy, often blows us away with its cultural and economic impacts. But what about its geography? It's the second largest of the contiguous United States. The folks at SelfStorage.com recently tried to figure out what countries would fit inside the Golden State.
“Imagine if you could take that 155,779 square miles of land and use it as a storage container,” a spokesman said. “Can you believe that California is the size of the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Kosovo and Czech Republic combined.”
California's geographic size ranks it 59th if it were a nation, the analysis found. There are 141 countries that could each fit inside the Golden State. This is a look at some of the more interesting ones:
The United Kingdom could fit inside more than one and a half times, the site found. Japan and Maryland could cozy up inside Cali together. Vietnam, Italy, Norway and the Philippines could take up California about 1.3 or so times, SelfStorage.com says.
You could get 12.5 Taiwans inside the state. Paraguay, at 153,399 square miles, is the country closest to the size of the Golden State, according to the analysis.
The site used map tool thetruesize.com, which uses Google Maps but also accounts for global curvature and geographic distortion to assess the true size of nations. (Click image below to see maps.)
Via SelfStorage.com California
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.
I had so much fun making the first part of this series that I decided to break it up into several publications. Part One showed us that France is almost Texas-sized, Hungary and Indiana are a lot alike, and Italy could fit inside New Mexico. Let’s compare some more states with countries in Europe…
Sweden vs. California
Sweden and California are of similar size and shape, though Sweden is a bit larger. Officially, it is The Kingdom of Sweden, and one of the places that Vikings came from. If California were it’s own country, it would rank 5th in Gross Domestic Product in the world. Yeah, only the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany rank higher.
Sweden Area: 173,860 miles² (450,295 km²) Dimensions: 978 miles (1,574 km) N-S and maximum 310 miles (499 km) E-W
Population: 10.4 million
California Area: 163,696 miles² (423,970 km²) Dimensions: 770 miles (1,240 km) N-S and 250 miles (400 km) E-W
Population: 39.5 million
Portugal vs. Maine
I read “Portugal is the oldest nation state on the Iberian Peninsula” while I was researching this and thought “so… it’s older than Spain”. My bad, I forgot about Andorra, which is a country the size of Tampa, Florida. Not to be confused with Andoria, the planet where the blue people with antennae on Star Trek are from. I need to focus. So, I’ve never visited Maine, but according to Stephen King’s books, I probably don’t want to. Portugal and Maine are almost exactly the same size.
Portugal Area: 35,603 miles² (92,212 km²) Dimensions: 349 miles (561 km) N-S and 136 miles (218 km) E-W
Population: 10.3 million
Maine
Area: 35,385 miles² (91,646 km²) Dimensions: 320 miles (515 km) N-S and 205 miles (330 km) E-W
Population: 1.3 million
Lithuania vs. West Virginia
The only thing I know about Lithuania is that it’s capital city is Vilnius. Sean Connery’s character from The Hunt for Red October is from Vilnius, because I pay attention to minute details like that. Apparently modern Lithuania is a pretty nice place, very developed, and about the same size as West Virginia – which is probably less developed, comparatively.
Lithuania
Area: 25,200 miles² (65,300 km²)
Population: 2.8 million
West Virginia
Area: 24,230 miles² (62,755 km²)
Greece vs. Louisiana
Greece is about the same size as Louisiana, has twice as many people, and is a heck of a lot older. They both also occupy about the same place in their respective regions. Greece is fortunate that the Mediterranean Sea doesn’t have hurricanes, because the Gulf of Mexico sure does. Just ask New Orleans. I’ve been there for Mardi Gras, and it’s an experience you’ll never forget.
Greece Area: 50,949 miles² (131,957 km²) Dimensions: 584 miles (940 km) N-S and 480 miles (772 km) E-W (continental)
Population: 10.7 million
Louisiana Area: 52,069 miles² (135,382 km²) Dimensions: 379 (610 km) miles N-S and 130 miles (231 km) E-W
Population: 4.7 million
United Kingdom vs. Wyoming
You could fit the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) inside the borders of Wyoming. Yeah, that surprised me too. At the time Wyoming became a state in 1890, the British Empire included Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, about a third of Africa, and several other territories in Asia. I was going to compare the U.K. to Michigan, but the wolverine state kind of cheats and includes half of Lake Michigan within it’s borders.
United Kingdom Area: 93,628 miles² (242,495 km²) Dimensions: 600 miles (1000 km) N-S and 300 miles (500 km) E-W
Population: 67 million
Wyoming Area: 97,914 miles² (253,600 km²) Dimensions: 280 miles (452 km) N-S and 372.8 miles (600 km) E-W
Population: .5 million (576,851)
Lessons Learned
Sweden and California are geographically similar
I get side-tracked when Andorra is mentioned
You could easily fit the entire Black Sea inside Texas. I know that is off topic, but I had maps out so…
BONUS: Lichtenstein is about the same size as Washington D.C.
Check out U.S. States vs. European Countries Size Comparison Part One
Images and data as of January 2022. Cartography provided by Google Earth, edited by erickelly. All registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.