Today, we’re going to show you how small Ireland is in comparison to the United States.
I think that a lot of people forget just how big the United States really is. They also don’t seem to realize that Ireland is a relatively small island that lies on the outskirts of Europe.
Take a look at the following map, which might help you visualize it better.
A rough map showing the size of Ireland in comparison to the United States.
As you can see in the rough map above, the land mass of Ireland would fit inside most US states. It is smaller than states such as Texas, Nevada and Arizona. Furthermore, it is important to note that this map doesn’t even include Alaska or Hawaii.
Land mass differences.
The United States is 9.8 million km² in size. Ireland, on the other hand, has a land mass of 84,421 km². If you’re more comfortable with the imperial system, then the differences are as follows:
- USA: 3.797 million miles²
- Ireland: 32,595 miles²
To sum up this difference, it means that the USA is roughly 116 times bigger than Ireland. i.e. That is how many times you could fit the island of Ireland inside the US.
Population difference between the USA and Ireland.
The population difference is also interesting to note. As of 2019, there are 4.9 million people living in the country of Ireland. On the other hand, the population of the US is estimated to be 328.2 million. This means that the USA is 67 times larger than Ireland in terms of population.
If you were to take the island of Ireland as a whole (including Northern Ireland), then the USA is 49 times bigger.
Per square mile.
As you probably noticed, the size difference in land mass is far more pronounced than the difference in population. This is because Ireland has a higher population density than the US.
In Ireland, there are 186 people living in each square mile. The USA, on the other hand, has 94 people living in each square mile.
This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, as there are huge swaths of land in the USA that very few people live on. These are secluded areas that most of us would find uninhabitable.
States such as Alaska, Nevada, Washington and Montana immediately spring to mind, as these places contain huge areas of wilderness that the average person would not live in.
Which U.S. state is the same size of Ireland?
The U.S. state of South Carolina is the closest in size to Ireland. Although Ireland is slightly larger than South Carolina by about 575 miles².
The closest state after South Carolina is Maine, which is 2,784 miles² larger than Ireland.
Another interesting fact is that Florida and Wisconsin are nearly twice the size. Texas alone is 8.2 times bigger, whereas California is 5 times bigger!
To help put it into perspective, here are some other examples:
- Alaska: 20 times the size of Ireland.
- Montana: 4.5 times larger.
- Michigan: 2.9 times larger.
- Idaho: 2.5 times larger.
- Iowa: 1.7 times larger.
All in all, there are only 11 U.S. states that are smaller in size. These are:
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
- Maryland
- Hawaii: Around 3 times smaller than Ireland.
- Massachusetts
- Vermont
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey: 3.7 times smaller.
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Rhode Island