So far in the Ukraine-Russia war, we’ve been hearing various comparisons that illustrate the relative dimensions of each country. Let’s see which comparisons work and which don’t.
Start with population. Ukraine has 41.2 million people, excluding Crimea but including the Donbas region, ranking 36th globally. That’s near the population of California, at 39.6 million. Comparing Ukraine’s population to other countries, it’s nearly identical to Iraq’s (41.2 million) and slightly more than Canada (38.6 million) and Poland (38.1 million).
Ukraine’s belligerent neighbor, Russia, has 146 million people. Though Russia’s population is over three times that of its smaller neighbor, it’s less than half that of the United States (331 million) and a fraction of those in China (a little above 1.4 billion) and India (a little under 1.4 billion). Additionally, Russia has a smaller population than five other countries: Indonesia (274 million), Pakistan (221 million), Brazil (213 million), Nigeria (206 million), and Bangladesh (165 million). But it has more people than Mexico (129 million) and Japan (126 million).
Looking at total area, Ukraine covers 233,000 square miles, ranking 45th globally. It’s a bit smaller than Texas (269,000 square miles). Comparing country to country, Ukraine is slightly larger than Madagascar (227,000 square miles) and slightly smaller than the Central African Republic (240,000).
Assessed against other European nations, Ukraine’s size is closest to France (210,000 square miles). It’s bigger than Spain (195,000 square miles), Sweden (174,000 square miles), Norway (149,000 square miles), Germany (138,000 square miles), Finland (131,000 square miles), Poland (121,000 square miles), Italy (116,000 square miles), and the United Kingdom (94,000 square miles).
Ukraine is tiny compared to nemesis Russia, which is the largest nation in the world, covering 6.6 million square miles. Canada (3.9 million square miles), the U.S. (3.8 million square miles), and China (3.7 million square miles) rank second through fourth in the total area they each cover.
Another way to measure countries, and perhaps the most important, is by the size of their economies. Based on International Monetary Fund data, Ukraine ranks 55th in the world, with a nominal GDP of $181 billion.
Ukraine has an economy the same size as Hungary’s ($181 billion) and bigger than Qatar’s ($169 billion) and Algeria’s ($164 billion). It’s a little smaller than Kazakhstan’s ($194 billion) and Iraq’s ($201 billion).
Ukraine’s economy is close in size to Nevada’s ($192 billion), but it’s smaller than that of Louisiana ($257 billion) and half that of Missouri ($366 billion). Russia’s economy ($1.6 trillion) is nine times that of Ukraine’s. But the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, the U.K., India, France, Italy, Canada, and South Korea all have economies larger than Russia’s. The U.S. has a GDP of $23 trillion — 14 times that of Vladimir Putin’s fiefdom.
Russia’s economy is half the size of California’s ($3.4 trillion). Two other states, Texas ($2 trillion) and New York ($1.9 trillion), each have bigger GDPs than Russia.
By any standard measure, Ukraine is far from being one of the world’s biggest or most powerful nations. But in terms of fortitude and courage, it’s proven to be bigger than almost all of them.
Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst. He publishes LunchtimePolitics.com, a nationwide newsletter on polls and public opinion.
