The European Union covers 4.2 million square kilometers (1.6 million square miles) – that’s larger than India (3.3 million km²) and about half the size of the United States (9.9 million km²). This map by Reddit user: Informal_Car3267 shows all 27 EU countries drawn to their actual sizes using Lambert azimuthal projection. Unlike world maps in Mercator projection that distort areas of the countries, this equal-area projection shows countries at their true relative sizes.
Look at France compared to Malta. France takes up 547,557 square kilometers, while Malta barely manages 316. You could literally fit Malta into France 1,731 times. Spain comes in second at 505,944 square kilometers, then Sweden at 450,295, and Germany at 357,588. Just these four countries account for 1.86 million square kilometers – that’s 44% of the entire EU’s land area.
The population density differences are just as extreme. Malta crams 1,693 people into every square kilometer while Finland has just 18 people per square kilometer. The Netherlands is interesting – it’s only ranked 22nd by area but packs 518 people per square kilometer into that small space.
Poland might surprise you at 312,696 square kilometers – it’s the 6th largest EU country, bigger than Italy. Romania covers 238,391 square kilometers, making it larger than Greece. At the smallest end, Malta takes up just 316 square kilometers, followed by Luxembourg at 2,586 and Cyprus at 9,251. The ten smallest EU countries combined still take up less space than Italy alone.
Country
Area (km²)
Population Density (per km²)
EU Member Since
France
547,557
118
1957
Spain
505,944
94
1986
Sweden
450,295
26
1995
Germany
357,588
232
1957
Finland
338,424
18
1995
Poland
312,696
124
2004
Italy
301,336
200
1957
Romania
238,391
85
2007
Greece
131,957
82
1981
Bulgaria
110,879
66
2007
Hungary
93,028
108
2004
Portugal
92,090
111
1986
Austria
83,871
109
1995
Czech Republic
78,867
139
2004
Ireland
70,273
72
1973
Lithuania
65,300
43
2004
Latvia
64,559
30
2004
Croatia
56,594
73
2013
Slovakia
49,035
114
2004
Estonia
45,228
31
2004
Denmark
43,094
137
1973
Netherlands
41,850
518
1957
Belgium
30,528
384
1957
Slovenia
20,273
103
2004
Cyprus
9,251
127
2004
Luxembourg
2,586
242
1957
Malta
316
1,693
2004
The original six countries from 1957 – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands – still represent about 30% of the EU’s total area. The biggest single expansion happened in 2004 when ten countries joined at once, adding over 738,000 square kilometers in a single day. Croatia was the most recent addition in 2013.
