Morocco vs. Sweden Size Comparison

Morocco and Sweden sit at almost identical latitude bands on opposite sides of the equator's influence — one just south of the Mediterranean, one deep in Scandinavia — and land on almost exactly the same total area. Nothing else about them matches.

How Close in Size Are Morocco and Sweden?

Extremely close. Morocco covers 446,550 km² (172,410 sq mi) and Sweden covers 450,295 km² (173,860 sq mi) (CIA World Factbook, 2026) — a gap of just 3,745 km², under 1%, one of the tightest area matchups featured on this site.

A Population Gap That Runs Opposite the Economic One

Morocco holds an estimated 37.4 million people (CIA World Factbook, 2024 est., most recent available); Sweden holds roughly 10.6 million — Morocco has more than 3.5 times Sweden's population on essentially identical land.

The economic comparison runs the other way entirely. Sweden's nominal GDP is about $760 billion (IMF, 2025 estimate); Morocco's is roughly $183 billion (IMF, 2025 estimate) — Sweden's economy is more than 4 times Morocco's despite having under a third of the population. GDP per capita makes the full picture clear: Sweden's works out to about $71,700 per person, among the highest in the world; Morocco's to around $4,890.

Two Very Different Shapes on the Same Footprint

Morocco is roughly rectangular, running along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts with the Atlas Mountains cutting diagonally through the interior and the Sahara taking over in the south and east. Sweden is long and narrow, stretching about 1,572 km from the southern coast to well above the Arctic Circle — nearly the full north-south length of the Scandinavian peninsula's eastern side.

That difference in shape drives dramatically different climates despite the nearly identical area: Morocco ranges from Mediterranean along the north coast to hot desert in the south and east, while Sweden ranges from temperate in the south to subarctic tundra in the far north, including several months of near-continuous daylight or darkness above the Arctic Circle depending on season.

Terrain and Settlement

Morocco's population concentrates heavily along the Atlantic coastal plain, where Casablanca, Rabat, and most major cities sit, with the Atlas Mountains (Toubkal, 4,167 m, the highest point in North Africa) and Sahara covering much of the interior and south with far lower density.

Sweden's population concentrates in the southern third of the country, especially around Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, while the northern two-thirds — covering the majority of the country's land area — hold only a small fraction of the population, dominated by forest, mountains (Kebnekaise, 2,097 m, the highest point), and Arctic tundra near the Norwegian border.

Interactive Exploration

Overlay the two and the area match is almost exact — a useful reminder that "how big is a country" and "what is a country like" can point in completely different directions.

Fun Facts

Morocco:

• Home to Chefchaouen, the "Blue City," famous for its blue-painted old town
• The Sahara covers roughly the southern half of the country
• One of the world's largest exporters of phosphate, a key fertilizer ingredient
• Only about 14 km separates Morocco from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar at the closest point

Sweden:

• Home to the Northern Lights across much of its northern territory
• Has one of the highest rates of English proficiency of any non-native-speaking country
• IKEA, Spotify, and Volvo all originated in Sweden
• Roughly 15% of the country lies above the Arctic Circle

Conclusion

Morocco and Sweden occupy almost exactly the same amount of land, a coincidence between a North African kingdom and a Scandinavian welfare state that share essentially nothing else in common. Morocco holds more than triple the population; Sweden's economy runs more than four times bigger. Same footprint, opposite profile on every other axis.