Place comparison
Ishigaki Island compared with Penghu: area, population and density
Ishigaki Island has more land than Penghu County but fewer registered Japanese-national residents than Penghu’s registered population.
Equal-area outline comparison
Outlines are centered and scaled by official land area; position does not show geographic location.
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The detailed guide below compares Ishigaki Island with Penghu County. Use the selector above to explore any other pair.
Direct answer
How different are Ishigaki Island and Penghu County?
Ishigaki Island covers 222.2 km²; Ishigaki Island's area is 1.74 times Penghu County's. Its reported population is 49,387; Ishigaki Island's population is about 45.8% of Penghu County's. By average density, Ishigaki Island's population density is about 26.4% of Penghu County's.
Population difference
Ishigaki Island's population is about 45.8% of Penghu County's 49,387 · 107,901Density difference
Ishigaki Island's population density is about 26.4% of Penghu County's 222.2 /km² · 843.2 /km²On a familiar scale
- Ishigaki Island ≈ 82% of Taipei City 4,500 m² of land per resident
- Penghu County ≈ 84% of Kinmen County 1,186 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
The Ishigaki area and outline cover the island only. The population source excludes foreign residents; the comparison does not use Ishigaki City’s wider administrative area.
Geography and shape
Ishigaki is a single mountainous island, whereas Penghu County distributes its land among an archipelago of 90 islands. Ishigaki’s larger land area is therefore more geographically continuous than Penghu’s county total.
Population context
The Ishigaki figure records fewer residents across a larger island, resulting in a much lower reported density than Penghu County. It also excludes foreign residents, so it should not be interpreted as a complete count of every person living on Ishigaki.
Boundaries and definitions
The area and outline represent Ishigaki Island, not Ishigaki City’s full administrative territory, which includes the Senkaku Islands. Its population source counts registered Japanese nationals. Penghu represents the complete county archipelago and registered year-end population.
Ishigaki Island: Ishigaki Island only. Population is the registered Japanese-national population and excludes foreign residents. This does not use Ishigaki City's wider administrative area, which includes the Senkaku Islands.
Penghu County: The full Penghu County archipelago: 90 islands in the county inventory. Population is the registered year-end total; the area figure is the current official inventory accessed September 4, 2026.
In-depth guide
How should Ishigaki Island and Penghu County be understood in context?
Ishigaki Island has more land than the full Penghu County archipelago, yet its reported population is lower. The comparison is valuable because it exposes two common data traps at once: city boundaries that exceed the named island and population counts that exclude foreign residents.
Ishigaki Island is not Ishigaki City
The outline and area on this page represent Ishigaki Island. Ishigaki City governs a wider administrative territory, including remote islands that are not part of the island outline. Using the city area with the island shape would mix two geographic objects.
Penghu is intentionally different: it uses the whole county archipelago. That asymmetry is acceptable when it is visible, because many real questions compare a familiar administration with a named island. It becomes misleading only when the boundary is hidden.
The population figure needs special care
The available island-level source counts registered Japanese nationals and excludes foreign residents. It is therefore not a complete total of everyone living on Ishigaki. Penghu uses registered population under Taiwan’s household-registration system.
The reported density follows those definitions. It remains useful for an approximate settlement-scale comparison, but any precise quotation should retain the note that the two population systems differ.
What the larger land area does not imply
A larger island does not automatically mean more attractions, residents, roads or usable land. Ishigaki includes mountainous and less settled areas, while Penghu’s county total is distributed among many islands. The shape and distribution matter alongside the total.
For travel, this page is a mental scale rather than an itinerary calculator. Road time, ferry dependence and the location of settlements require local maps and schedules that change more often than geographic area.
Questions people ask
About this geographic comparison
Is Ishigaki Island larger than Penghu?
Yes by land area when Ishigaki Island is compared with the full Penghu County archipelago. The current multiple is calculated from the source figures above.
Does the Ishigaki population include foreign residents?
No. The available island-level source is the registered Japanese-national population, so foreign residents are excluded.
Why not use the area of Ishigaki City?
Ishigaki City’s administrative territory extends beyond Ishigaki Island. Using the island outline and island area keeps the geographic object consistent with the page title.
Sources
- Okinawa Prefectural Government: Registered Japanese-national population and households by island as of January 1, 2024
- Geospatial Information Authority of Japan: Areas of Japan's islands as of July 1, 2024
- Civil Affairs Department, Penghu County Government: Households and population, December 2024
- Penghu County Government: Area of the Penghu Archipelago
Outline data: