Place comparison

Xiaoliuqiu compared with Green Island: area, population and density

Xiaoliuqiu is about 45% of Green Island’s land but holds roughly 2.8 times its residents, which makes it about six times as densely populated.

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: Xiaoliuqiu and Green Island. Change the selector above and the page follows, so the reading always matches the tool.

Direct answer

How different are Xiaoliuqiu and Green Island?

Xiaoliuqiu covers 6.8 km²; Xiaoliuqiu's area is about 45.1% of Green Island's. Its reported population is 12,076; Xiaoliuqiu's population is 2.79 times Green Island's. By average density, Xiaoliuqiu's population density is 6.19 times Green Island's.

Area difference

Xiaoliuqiu's area is about 45.1% of Green Island's 6.8 km² · 15.1 km²

Population difference

Xiaoliuqiu's population is 2.79 times Green Island's 12,076 · 4,327

Density difference

Xiaoliuqiu's population density is 6.19 times Green Island's 1,775.4 /km² · 286.7 /km²

Full data and sources for each place: Xiaoliuqiu, Green Island

Straight-line distance between geometric centres: about 120 km; time difference: none.

On a familiar scale

Xiaoliuqiu ≈ 24% of Matsu (Lienchiang County) (reference rung) 563 m² of land per resident
Green Island ≈ 52% of Matsu (Lienchiang County) (reference rung) 3,488 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

Xiaoliuqiu is the densest of Taiwan’s offshore islands, and the reason is geology: it is a raised coral platform with gentle ground almost everywhere, while Green Island is a steep volcanic cone.

Geography and shape

Xiaoliuqiu lies about 14 km off Pingtung in the Taiwan Strait and is the only one of Taiwan’s significant offshore islands built from uplifted coral limestone rather than volcanic or continental rock. Its highest point is around 87 m and the whole island is a gently tilted platform, so nearly all of the 6.8 km² is usable. Green Island is volcanic, reaches 281 m, and much of its interior is too steep to settle — which is why twice the land does not mean twice the living space.

Population context

Xiaoliuqiu has roughly 2.8 times Green Island’s registered residents on about 45% of the land, giving an average density around 1,775 people per km² against Green Island’s 287. That is higher than several Taiwanese counties. Registered population is also the wrong number for how busy the island feels: Xiaoliuqiu is Taiwan’s most visited offshore island, and in season the daytime population is a multiple of the resident count.

Boundaries and definitions

Both sides come from the same Ministry of the Interior table at year-end 2025, so area date, population date and definition match exactly. Both townships are also effectively their island: Liuqiu Township has no outlying islands of any size, and Green Island Township is nearly coextensive with Green Island, so on this page the administrative unit and the geographic object are the same thing on both sides — which is rarer on this site than it sounds.

Xiaoliuqiu: Liuqiu Township, Pingtung County, at year-end 2025: 6.8018 km² of land and 12,076 registered residents, both from the same Ministry of the Interior table. The township is the island, with no separate outlying islands of any size, so area, population and outline describe one object. Registered residents are not visitors: this is Taiwan's most visited offshore island and the daytime population is far higher in season.

Green Island: Physical Green Island area paired with the registered population of Green Island Township at year-end 2025. The township and main island are nearly coextensive, but the population remains an administrative count.

In-depth guide

How should Xiaoliuqiu and Green Island be understood in context?

Xiaoliuqiu is about 45% of Green Island by land and about 2.8 times by population, so its average density is roughly six times Green Island’s. The explanation is not economics or policy; it is that one island is a flat coral platform and the other is a steep volcanic cone.

Geology decides how much of an island is usable

Xiaoliuqiu is uplifted coral limestone: a gently tilted platform topping out around 87 m, with buildable ground across almost its whole 6.8 km². Green Island is volcanic, reaching 281 m, and much of its interior is too steep to settle, which pushes its villages onto the western and northern shores. Land area counts both kinds of ground the same way, which is exactly why a smaller island can carry nearly three times as many people.

Distance does the rest. Xiaoliuqiu is about 14 km off Donggang in Pingtung, a crossing of roughly 25 minutes, which puts it inside a day trip from Kaohsiung. Green Island is about 33 km out in the open Pacific, with sailings that depend on the weather. A place that is easy to reach and easy to build on accumulates residents; a place that is neither does not.

What a density of 1,775 per km² actually means here

Xiaoliuqiu’s 1,775 residents per km² is higher than most Taiwanese counties and roughly six times Green Island’s 287. On an island of 6.8 km², though, the average is unusually close to reality: there is no mountain interior to dilute it, so nearly everywhere on the island really is settled at something like that figure. That is the opposite of the Hong Kong case, where a territory-wide average understates lived density by a factor of four because three quarters of the land carries nobody.

The number that is misleading here is the resident count, not the density. Xiaoliuqiu is the most visited of Taiwan’s offshore islands; in season the daytime population is a multiple of the 12,076 registered residents, and household registration counts none of them. Read the density as a floor on how busy the island is, not as a description of it.

Two townships that really are their islands

Most island pages on this site have to disclose a mismatch: an island outline paired with a wider municipal population, or a township area that includes an islet the outline leaves out. This pair does not. Liuqiu Township contains no outlying islands of any size and Green Island Township is nearly coextensive with Green Island, so on both sides the administrative unit, the geographic object and the drawn shape describe the same ground.

Both rows come from the Ministry of the Interior’s year-end 2025 township table, so area and population share a reference date and a definition on both sides. The outline used for Xiaoliuqiu measures about 6.93 km² against the official 6.8018 — a 2% difference between a traced coastline and a cadastral boundary, and well inside what this site accepts. Nothing on this page needed a second source.

Questions people ask

About this geographic comparison

Which is bigger, Xiaoliuqiu or Green Island?

Green Island is bigger, with a land area about 2.22× that of Xiaoliuqiu (6.8 vs 15.1 km²).

How do Xiaoliuqiu and Green Island differ in area, population and density?

Xiaoliuqiu is 45.1% the size of Green Island — 6.8 km² vs 15.1 km². Population is 2.79× higher; average density is 6.19× higher. Each side’s scope and reference date are set out under “Boundaries and definitions” on this page.

Which is more crowded, Xiaoliuqiu or Green Island?

Xiaoliuqiu, by a long way: about 1,775 residents per km² against Green Island’s 287, roughly six times. Both averages describe registered residents only, and both islands carry far more people than that on a busy day.

Why does the smaller island have more people?

Geology and access. Xiaoliuqiu is a raised coral platform with gentle ground across almost its whole 6.8 km², and it is a 25-minute boat ride from Donggang. Green Island is a steep volcanic island whose interior is largely unsettled, and it sits about 33 km out in the open Pacific.

Is this Liuqiu Township or the island?

Both, and they are the same ground. Liuqiu Township covers only the island of Liuqiu — locally and universally called Xiaoliuqiu — with no outlying islands of any size, so the township area, the registered population and the drawn outline all describe one object.

Sources

Outline data: