In the United Kingdom, Wales, equal to 20,779 km² (8,023 sq mi), is used in phrases such as “an area the size of Wales” or “twice the area of Wales”. England is 6.5 times the size of Wales, and Scotland is four times the size of Wales. The Isle of Wight (380 km² or 147 sq mi) is commonly used for smaller areas. The British comedy show The Eleven O’Clock Show parodied the use of this measurement, by introducing a news article about an earthquake in Wales, stating that an area the size of Wales was affected.
In the United States, the areas of Rhode Island (1,545 sq mi/4,002 km², the smallest state and therefore a relatively easy threshold to reach), Texas (268,601 sq mi/742,293 km², commonly used due to its historic “larger than life” reputation), and less commonly used Alaska (656,425 sq mi/1,700,133 km²) are used in a similar fashion. Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf was approximately the size of Rhode Island until it broke up in 2002. Due to Rhode Island being a relatively small unit of measurement (and, perhaps, due to its area being 33% water), many comparisons to the size of Rhode Island are somewhat imprecise.[17] The US Central Intelligence Agency uses Washington, D.C. as a comparison for city-sized objects.
In Canada, the standard unit of comparison is often Prince Edward Island, the smallest Canadian province.
In Russia, France is often used as a comparison for regions of Siberia. This was so popular in Soviet time that the phrase “как две Франции” (twice the size of France) became a stock phrase to denote any large area.
The country of Belgium has also often been used when comparing areas, to the point where it has been regarded as a meme and where there is a website dedicated to notable areas which have been compared to that of Belgium.
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