Wales is roughly 20,000–21,000 square kilometres in area, which is about 8,000 square miles.

Quick Scoop

Basic size facts

  • Area: about 20,700–21,200 km² (around 8,000–8,200 sq mi).
  • That’s roughly:
    • About 8–9% of the total land area of the UK.
* Comparable to the US state of New Jersey or slightly larger than Massachusetts.

Shape and distances

  • North to south, Wales is about 270 km (around 170 miles) long.
  • It is at least about 95–100 km (around 60 miles) wide east to west at its narrowest.
  • The coastline, including major offshore islands like Anglesey, is about 2,700 km (1,680 miles) long.

Context: “size of Wales” as a unit

  • Because it’s a handy, medium-sized country, “the size of Wales” is often used in news reports to describe the area of storms, icebergs, or forests.
[1][9][3] [9][1][3] [1][7] [3][7] [2][7]
Measure Wales (approx.)
Area (km²) 20,700–21,200 km²
Area (sq mi) ≈8,000–8,200 sq mi
Share of UK land About 8–9%
North–south length ≈270 km (170 miles)
Coastline length ≈2,700 km (1,680 miles)
**TL;DR:** If you imagine a medium-sized US state like New Jersey spread along a long, crinkly coastline, that’s about how big Wales is.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.