Hainan Island compared with Hawaii: area, population and density

Geography and shape

Hainan is a single large tropical island off southern China, at roughly 18–20°N. Hawaii’s main islands lie at roughly 19–22°N in the middle of the North Pacific, so the two share a latitude band, but Hawaii’s land is split across eight main islands.

Population context

Hainan has 10,552,300 permanent residents on 33,900 km², about 311 per km². Hawaii has an estimated 1,432,820 on 16,634 km² of land, about 86 per km². Hainan holds about 7.4 times Hawaii’s population on about twice its land.

Boundaries and definitions

Hainan’s area is the main island only, while its population is the whole province’s at year-end 2025; the province’s other islands hold only a few thousand people. Hawaii uses the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate for 1 July 2025 and the state’s land area, which leaves out 11,777 km² of inland and coastal water.

Hainan Island: Area is the land area of Hainan Island itself, published by the provincial government as 33,900 km², covering only the main island. The population is the province's — 10,552,300 permanent residents at year-end 2025 — so the density here divides a provincial population by an island area. The overstatement is small, because the province's other administered islands hold only a few thousand residents, but the pairing is not like-for-like. Hainan Province separately publishes a land area of 35,400 km², which adds those island groups; the roughly 2,000,000 km² figure often quoted for Hainan is maritime jurisdiction, not land, and is never used here. The area carries no stated survey date, so the date shown is when the official page was read.

Hawaii: The State of Hawaii: 16,634.44 km² of land and 1,432,820 residents. Area is the Census Bureau’s land area (ALAND) for the state in the 2025 Gazetteer; it excludes 11,777 km² of inland and coastal water, so the land-plus-water total is 28,412 km². Population is the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 resident estimate for 1 July 2025, not a census count. Hawaiʻi Island (Hawaii County) is about 63% of the land, while Honolulu County on Oʻahu holds about 69% of the residents. The outline is Natural Earth’s admin-1 polygon showing the eight main islands; the tiny Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, strung out nearly 2,000 km further northwest, are counted in the area but not drawn. The drawn islands measure about 1.5% more than the official land area. Hawaii keeps Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time (UTC−10) all year and does not observe daylight saving time.