All our lives, we’ve been told one thing over and over again — that Sri Lanka is a very small country. We’ve even been called the “pearl of the Indian Ocean,” which sounds nice, but also makes us seem tiny.
The truth? Sri Lanka is not that small at all. In fact, by land area, we rank 119th in the world. There are 75 countries smaller than us.
Think about that for a second. Sri Lanka is actually bigger than plenty of European countries like Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. It’s also larger than many countries in Central America, and quite a few in Africa too.
Here’s a fun comparison:
- The country just smaller than us is Lithuania (only about 300 km² less).
- The country just bigger than us is Georgia (about 2,700 km² more).
- Then comes Ireland, which nobody ever calls a “tiny island.”
So no — we’re not a huge country. But we’re definitely not a tiny speck either. Sri Lanka is a medium-sized island nation.
The reason we seem small is simple: we’re right next to India, a giant in comparison. Naturally, anything nearby looks smaller. But judged on its own, Sri Lanka holds its ground pretty well.
It’s time we let go of that “small island” mentality. We’re not just a pearl, not just a dot on the map. We’re a proper country of our own size — not huge, not tiny, just right.
🌍 Sri Lanka’s land area:
- About 65,610 km² (25,332 sq mi).
📊 Comparisons to other countries (by size):
- Similar in size to:
- Lithuania (~65,300 km²)
- Ireland (~70,200 km²)
- Georgia (country) (~69,700 km²)
- Smaller than:
- Cuba (~110,900 km², almost twice as big)
- Iceland (~103,000 km²)
- Nepal (~147,500 km², over 2x larger)
- Bigger than:
- Switzerland (~41,300 km²)
- Netherlands (~41,800 km²)
- Denmark (~42,900 km²)
- Bhutan (~38,400 km²)
🔎 Another way to see it:
- Sri Lanka is about the same size as West Virginia (US state) or twice the size of Belgium.
- It’s roughly 0.4% the size of the United States and about 1/5 the size of Japan.