How big is China?

China covers about 9.6 million km² (3,705,405 square miles): 1.19 times the contiguous United States, 2.27 times the European Union, 2.92 times India, 25 times Japan and 40 times the United Kingdom. Only Russia and Canada are clearly larger. Lay a country over China below, at the same scale, and see which countries match its regions one by one.

Area: 9.6 million km²third or fourth largest in the world
People: 1.40 billionin 2025
Largest region: Xinjiang1,664,897 km², a sixth of the country
Land border: about 22,100 kmwith 14 countries
Coastline: about 18,000 kmBohai Sea to the Gulf of Tonkin
Across: about 5,200 kmeast to west; 5,500 km north to south

Lay a country over China

Compare China with

ChinaUnited States (contiguous)Both drawn in an equal-area projection, so the areas compare truly

China is 1.19 times the size of the United States (contiguous): 9.6 million km² against 8.1 million km².

Which countries are the size of China's regions?

Each of the 34 regions matched with the country nearest to it in area, and the one nearest in population. Xinjiang alone is bigger than Iran; Guangdong has more people than Japan.

Region	Area (km²)	About the size of	People	About as many as
Beijing	16,411	about Eswatini 17,364 km²	21.9 million	about Niger 21.5 million
Tianjin	11,920	about Vanuatu 12,190 km²	13.9 million	about Burundi 13.7 million
Hebei	187,240	about Syria 185,180 km²	74.6 million	about France 68.6 million
Shanxi	156,000	about Suriname 163,270 km²	34.9 million	about Uzbekistan 34.9 million
Inner Mongolia	1,181,104	about South Africa 1,221,037 km²	24.0 million	about Syria 23.9 million
Liaoning	145,900	about Nepal 147,181 km²	42.6 million	about Afghanistan 41.5 million
Jilin	187,400	about Syria 185,180 km²	24.1 million	about Syria 23.9 million
Heilongjiang	454,800	about Yemen 455,503 km²	31.9 million	about Madagascar 32.0 million
Shanghai	6,341	about Brunei 5,765 km²	24.9 million	about Syria 23.9 million
Jiangsu	98,285	about South Korea 100,295 km²	84.7 million	about Turkey 85.4 million
Zhejiang	101,800	about Iceland 103,004 km²	64.6 million	about Thailand 66.2 million
Anhui	139,000	about Tajikistan 143,100 km²	61.0 million	about South Africa 62.0 million
Fujian	121,400	about North Korea 120,540 km²	41.5 million	about Afghanistan 41.5 million
Jiangxi	166,900	about Tunisia 163,610 km²	45.2 million	about Algeria 46.2 million
Shandong	156,700	about Suriname 163,270 km²	101.5 million	about Democratic Republic of the Congo 105.8 million
Henan	167,000	about Tunisia 163,610 km²	99.4 million	about Vietnam 96.2 million
Hubei	185,900	about Syria 185,180 km²	57.8 million	about Tanzania 57.3 million
Hunan	211,836	about Guyana 214,970 km²	66.4 million	about Thailand 66.2 million
Guangdong	179,800	about Cambodia 181,035 km²	126.0 million	about Japan 123.8 million
Guangxi	235,001	about Laos 236,800 km²	50.1 million	about South Korea 51.5 million
Hainan	33,920	about Moldova 33,844 km²	10.1 million	about Azerbaijan 10.2 million
Chongqing	82,403	about United Arab Emirates 83,600 km²	32.1 million	about Madagascar 32.0 million
Sichuan	485,000	about Turkmenistan 491,210 km²	83.7 million	about Germany 83.5 million
Guizhou	176,167	about Uruguay 176,215 km²	38.6 million	about Iraq 38.3 million
Yunnan	394,100	about Zimbabwe 390,757 km²	47.2 million	about Uganda 47.1 million
Tibet	1,228,400	about South Africa 1,221,037 km²	3.65 million	about Eritrea 3.50 million
Shaanxi	205,800	about Belarus 207,597 km²	39.5 million	about Sudan 40.5 million
Gansu	454,000	about Yemen 455,503 km²	25.0 million	about Syria 23.9 million
Qinghai	696,700	about Myanmar 676,577 km²	5.9 million	about Kingdom of Denmark 5.9 million
Ningxia	52,188	about Costa Rica 51,180 km²	7.2 million	about Kyrgyzstan 7.3 million
Xinjiang	1,664,897	about Iran 1,648,195 km²	25.9 million	about North Korea 26.4 million
Taiwan	35,883	about Guinea-Bissau 36,125 km²	23.3 million	about Burkina Faso 23.0 million
Hong Kong	1,106	about São Tomé and Príncipe 1,001 km²	7.4 million	about Libya 7.4 million
Macau	115	a bit less than Liechtenstein 160 km²	0.68 million	about Luxembourg 0.69 million

Is China bigger than the United States?

It depends on what is counted. With its lakes, coastal waters and the Great Lakes, the United States comes to 9.8 million km², a little more than China's 9.6 million km²; by land alone China is the larger. Most lists put China third or fourth in the world, after Russia (17.1 million km²) and Canada, level with the United States. Without Alaska and Hawaii the United States is 8.1 million km², and China is 1.19 times that.

Is China bigger than Europe?

Europe as a continent, from Portugal to the Urals, is about 10.2 million km², a little larger than China. The European Union's 27 members cover 4.24 million km², so China is 2.27 times the size of the EU, with 3.1 times its people.

How many time zones does China have?

One. The whole country keeps Beijing time (UTC+8), although it spans about 60 degrees of longitude, which would be five zones; in Xinjiang, 3,000 km west of Beijing, the sun rises and sets about two hours later by the clock, and many people there keep an unofficial local time two hours behind.

Which countries border China?

Fourteen, more than any other country but Russia: North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam. The land border runs about 22,100 km, and the coastline about 18,000 km from the Bohai Sea to the Gulf of Tonkin.

Areas and populations are from Wikidata (2026-10-29); population years vary by country. Country outlines are Natural Earth's, simplified; China's is the atlas's own, without the islands of the South China Sea, which are specks at this scale. The overlay uses a Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on each shape, so sizes are true and shapes near enough. Last checked 2026-10-29.

Cite this page

APA: Atlas of China. (2026, October 29). How big is China? Its size compared with the United States, Europe, India and 25 other countries. https://www.atlasofchina.com/learn/how-big-is-china/
MLA: “How big is China? Its size compared with the United States, Europe, India and 25 other countries.” Atlas of China, 29 Oct. 2026, www.atlasofchina.com/learn/how-big-is-china/.