Indonesia vs China: which one wins, and by how little?
Indonesia measures 5,049 km (3,137 mi) east to west, and China measures 4,822 km (2,996 mi) east to west. That puts Indonesia at 1.05 times the east-west span of China: 226.4 km (140.7 mi) of difference, 5%. Put the other way round, China covers 96% of Indonesia on the axis both are judged on. Indonesia and China are both written in thousands of kilometres, and the 5% between them is the whole of the difference.
| Object | Real size | Axis measured | What the figure covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | 5,049 km 3,137 mi |
East-west span | Widest extent of the outline on that axis |
| China | 4,822 km 2,996 mi |
East-west span | Widest extent of the outline on that axis |
Both figures, Indonesia and China, come from the Size It Up measurement set, one real-world size and one measured axis per object, last checked in September 2026; outline provenance is listed on the sources page.
Why this one is hard to judge by eye
China has never been measured, only stated: the figure comes from its source and moves when the source is redrawn, while Indonesia can be checked with a tape, so this pair sets a decision against a measurement. The outline of Indonesia that most people carry comes from a world map, and every projection that keeps angles true stretches whatever sits far from the equator; the outline of China above is scaled from measured distances instead. A gap of 5% is invisible without a shared baseline: on the ground line above, China stops 226.4 km (140.7 mi) short of Indonesia.
What each figure covers
Indonesia. Indonesia is measured east to west across the whole archipelago. It is one of the widest countries on Earth on that axis and one of the least compact.
China. China is judged east to west, a span that officially runs on a single clock. The real difference in solar time across it is close to four hours.
Indonesia and China are both quoted as an east-west span, which is what makes the ratio above a like-for-like figure.
What else is about that size?
Measured the same way, Indonesia at 5,049 km sits within a tenth of Mercury at 4,879 km and Canada at 5,395 km. China at 4,822 km has Mercury at 4,879 km, Brazil at 4,308 km and Canada at 5,395 km for company, within a quarter. Swapping any of those in for Indonesia would move its ratio to China by less than 10%.