Place comparison

Jeju compared with Okinawa Main Island: area, population and density

Jeju has about 1.5 times Okinawa Main Island’s land, but Okinawa Main Island has about twice Jeju’s population, so Okinawa is about 3 times as dense.

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: Jeju Province and Okinawa Main Island. Change the selector above and the page follows, so the reading always matches the tool.

Direct answer

How different are Jeju Province and Okinawa Main Island?

Jeju Province covers 1,850.3 km²; Jeju Province's area is 1.53 times Okinawa Main Island's. Its reported population is 674,817; Jeju Province's population is about 49.9% of Okinawa Main Island's. By average density, Jeju Province's population density is about 32.6% of Okinawa Main Island's.

Area difference

Jeju Province's area is 1.53 times Okinawa Main Island's 1,850.3 km² · 1,208.5 km²

Population difference

Jeju Province's population is about 49.9% of Okinawa Main Island's 674,817 · 1,352,975

Density difference

Jeju Province's population density is about 32.6% of Okinawa Main Island's 364.7 /km² · 1,119.6 /km²

Full data and sources for each place: Jeju Province area & population, Okinawa Main Island area & population

Straight-line distance between geometric centres: about 779 km; time difference: none.

On a familiar scale

Jeju Province ≈ 63% of Kaohsiung City (reference rung) 2,742 m² of land per resident
Okinawa Main Island ≈ 1.12 × Changhua County (reference rung) 893 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

East Asia’s two big resort islands: Jeju is the larger, Okinawa the far busier.

Geography and shape

Jeju is a volcanic island south of the Korean Peninsula, built around Hallasan, South Korea’s highest mountain. Okinawa Main Island is a long, narrow coral-and-limestone island in the Ryukyu chain, with its population concentrated in the south around Naha.

Population context

Jeju Province has 674,817 people on 1,850.3 km², about 365 per km². Okinawa Main Island has about 1.35 million on 1,208 km², about 1,120 per km².

Boundaries and definitions

Jeju here is the whole province, including Udo, Marado and other small islands; the main island alone is about 0.9% smaller, and no official area exists for it separately. Okinawa is the main island only, not the prefecture, and its density reads about 2% high because its population includes bridge-connected islets its area leaves out.

Jeju Province: Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, not the main island alone. The area is the province's registered cadastral land at 31 December 2024, covering the main island plus Udo, the Chuja group, Gapado, Marado, Biyangdo and dozens of smaller islets; the population is the province's at the 1 November 2024 register-based census. The main island by itself is roughly 0.9% smaller in area and 0.5% smaller in population, but no Korean government body publishes an area for it alone, so no separate island entry is possible. The outline drawn here is the main island's coastline rather than the provincial boundary, because the mapped provincial relation is a maritime jurisdiction line enclosing about 11,100 km² of mostly open sea. The Chuja Islands, some 50 km north, are therefore counted in the figures but do not appear in the outline.

Okinawa Main Island: The main island of Okinawa, not the whole prefecture. Area is the island's own coastline, so bridge-connected satellites such as Yagaji, Henza and Sesoko are counted separately by the mapping authority. The prefectural population survey does the opposite: it reports only islands not linked by bridge, so those satellites are folded into this figure. The density shown is therefore about 2% high; a like-for-like denominator would be roughly 1,237 km². The count is the resident register, which includes foreign residents but not US military personnel stationed on the island.

In-depth guide

How should Jeju Province and Okinawa Main Island be understood in context?

Jeju and Okinawa are the two island holidays Taiwanese travellers compare most often in East Asia. Jeju is the bigger island by about half again, but Okinawa Main Island has about twice as many people.

A round volcano and a long reef island

Jeju is an oval volcanic island built around Hallasan, about 1,850 km² including its small outlying islands. Okinawa Main Island is a narrow limestone island of about 1,208 km², stretched roughly 100 km from south to north.

Jeju averages about 365 people per km²; Okinawa Main Island about 1,120, roughly three times as dense. Most of Okinawa’s people live in the south around Naha, and the north is largely forest, so the contrast on the ground is sharper still.

Questions people ask

About this geographic comparison

Which is bigger, Jeju Province or Okinawa Main Island?

Jeju Province is bigger, with a land area about 1.53× that of Okinawa Main Island (1,850.3 vs 1,208.5 km²).

How do Jeju Province and Okinawa Main Island differ in area, population and density?

Jeju Province is 1.53× the size of Okinawa Main Island — 1,850.3 km² vs 1,208.5 km². Population is 49.9% as high; average density is 32.6% as high. Each side’s scope and reference date are set out under “Boundaries and definitions” on this page.

Is Jeju bigger than Okinawa?

Than Okinawa Main Island, yes — 1,850 km² against 1,208 km², about 1.5 times. Okinawa Prefecture as a whole, with all its islands, is about 2,282 km² and larger than Jeju.

Which island is more crowded?

Okinawa Main Island, at about 1,120 people per km² against Jeju’s 365 — roughly three times as dense.

Sources

Outline data: