Compare · Greenland vs Australia
Greenland vs Australia
Australia is bigger. It measures 7,706,123 km² against Greenland’s 2,154,786 km² — 3.6 times the island. Not a photo finish.
Geologists call Australia a continent because it sits on its own plate. Greenland rides on the North American plate. The size gap is the part Mercator hides: Greenland is inflated, Australia is not.
Greenland placed on Australia, on Equal Earth. The island does not cover the continent. Switch to Mercator inside the map and Greenland puts the costume back on. Open this scene on the full map.
Areas are the shapes drawn on Map Real Size, measured on the sphere. Official land-area tables differ where they include inland water, a different coastline, or a disputed border. Why one is a continent and the other is an island.