Place comparison

Hong Kong compared with Taipei City: area, population and density

Hong Kong covers about 4.1 times Taipei City’s land area with roughly three times its residents, so its territory-wide average density is lower than Taipei City’s.

Place A Grouped by country or region Place B Grouped by country or region

Equal-area outline comparison

Outlines are centered and scaled by official land area; position does not show geographic location.

Area

Population

Population density

Area data date

Population data date

The guide below belongs to this pair: Hong Kong and Taipei City. Change the selector above and the page follows, so the reading always matches the tool.

Direct answer

How different are Hong Kong and Taipei City?

Hong Kong covers 1,114.6 km²; Hong Kong's area is 4.1 times Taipei City's. Its reported population is 7,534,200; Hong Kong's population is 3.09 times Taipei City's. By average density, Hong Kong's population density is about 75.3% of Taipei City's.

Area difference

Hong Kong's area is 4.1 times Taipei City's 1,114.6 km² · 271.8 km²

Population difference

Hong Kong's population is 3.09 times Taipei City's 7,534,200 · 2,439,507

Density difference

Hong Kong's population density is about 75.3% of Taipei City's 6,759.7 /km² · 8,975.4 /km²

Full data and sources for each place: Hong Kong, Taipei City

Straight-line distance between geometric centres: about 814 km; time difference: none.

On a familiar scale

Hong Kong ≈ the size of Changhua County (reference rung) 148 m² of land per resident
Taipei City ≈ 1.79 × Kinmen County (reference rung) 111 m² of land per resident

Reference scales come from Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior: Land area, households and population density by township and district (year-end 2025) , as of 2025-12-31.

How to read it

Hong Kong’s territory-wide density is lower than Taipei City’s, which contradicts most people’s experience. About three quarters of Hong Kong is country park, water gathering ground and hillside that carries almost nobody.

Geography and shape

Hong Kong spreads across a peninsula and more than two hundred islands, with Lantau larger than Hong Kong Island itself. Taipei City is one continuous basin. The area gap of about four times is real, but almost all of Hong Kong’s extra land is terrain that was never built on.

Population context

Hong Kong has roughly three times Taipei City’s residents on about four times the land, so the territory-wide average density comes out below Taipei City’s. That average is misleading in a specific way: if only Hong Kong’s built-up land is used as the denominator, the lived density is several times higher than either figure on this page.

Boundaries and definitions

Hong Kong uses Lands Department land area, which excludes the sea area often bundled into a larger figure, and a mid-year population estimate. Taipei City uses official administrative land area and household registration at year-end 2025. A territory is being compared with a city, so the comparison is about scale rather than equivalent administrative status.

Hong Kong: Year-end population and total land area of the Hong Kong SAR.

Taipei City: Taipei City, the special municipality alone. Area and registered population come from the same Ministry of the Interior table at the same year-end 2025 reference date, so the density is like for like. The figure excludes New Taipei City: “Taipei” in everyday speech often means the two cities together (2,324.3664 km², 6,484,338 residents) or the wider metropolitan area, which has no single official boundary. Population is household registration, not resident presence.

In-depth guide

How should Hong Kong and Taipei City be understood in context?

Hong Kong is about 4.1 times Taipei City by land area and holds roughly three times its residents — which means Hong Kong’s territory-wide average density is lower than Taipei City’s. Almost nobody who has walked both places would guess that, and the reason it is true is the most useful thing on this page.

Why the average says the opposite of the experience

Only about a quarter of Hong Kong is built up. The rest is country park, water gathering ground and steep hillside, and country parks alone cover roughly 40% of the territory. Those areas sit in the denominator of the territory-wide average and push it down, even though nobody lives there.

Use Hong Kong’s built-up land as the denominator instead and the lived density is several times higher than either figure on this page. Taipei City has the same problem in milder form — Yangmingshan National Park and the hills of Nangang and Wenshan are inside its boundary — but the share of empty ground is much smaller, so its average sits closer to the experience.

What is being compared, and what is not

A special administrative region is being compared with a city. That is a comparison of scale, not of equivalent administrative status: Hong Kong runs its own immigration, currency and land administration, while Taipei City is one municipality inside Taiwan. The numbers are still worth putting side by side, because the question people ask is about size, not about constitutional status.

The Hong Kong area figure here is land only. A larger number around 2,755 km² circulates widely; that one includes sea area. Adding New Taipei City to the Taiwan side would flip the relationship entirely — the two cities together are about twice Hong Kong, not a quarter of it.

Questions people ask

About this geographic comparison

Which is bigger, Hong Kong or Taipei City?

Hong Kong is bigger, with a land area about 4.1× that of Taipei City (1,114.6 vs 271.8 km²).

How do Hong Kong and Taipei City differ in area, population and density?

Hong Kong is 4.1× the size of Taipei City — 1,114.6 km² vs 271.8 km². Population is 3.09× higher; average density is 75.3% as high. Each side’s scope and reference date are set out under “Boundaries and definitions” on this page.

Is Hong Kong bigger than Taipei?

Yes, about 4.1 times by land area. Hong Kong is 4.1× the size of Taipei City — 1,114.6 km² vs 271.8 km².

Is Hong Kong more crowded than Taipei?

Not by the territory-wide average shown here, which is lower than Taipei City’s. It is more crowded where people actually live, because only about a quarter of Hong Kong is built up.

Does this include New Taipei City?

No. Taipei City alone. Taipei City plus New Taipei City would be 2,324.3664 km², about twice Hong Kong rather than a quarter of it.

Sources

Outline data:

Natural Earth · Public domain