How Big Is Belize? Its Area in Square Kilometres and Square Miles

Verified on 14 November 2026 on the Statistical Institute of Belize’s 2022 census report and 2025 Abstract of Statistics, the World Bank’s land-area and surface-area series, the US Census Bureau’s state-area table, and the country pages of CARICOM, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Belize Tourism Board.

The Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) puts the country at 22,964 square kilometres of land in its 2022 census report (“The land area of Belize spans 22,964 square kilometres”), and at 8,867 square miles in Table 1.7 of its Abstract of Statistics 2025. The World Bank’s 2024 values, in its square-kilometre series, are 22810 for land area and 22966 for surface area. Set against the US Census Bureau’s state table, every one of these Belize figures is larger than New Jersey and smaller than New Hampshire on the same measure (our comparison).

Belize’s area, by publisher

The square-kilometre figures run from the World Bank’s 22810 to its 22970. Only SIB and the World Bank say whether a figure is land or total area, and none of the publishers explains the gap between its figure and the others'.

Compared with US states and Jamaica (our comparison)

The US Census Bureau’s State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates table (page last revised December 16, 2021) prints a total area and a land area for each state. We set Belize’s land figures beside state land areas, and its surface-area figures beside state totals:

• Land with land: SIB’s 22,964 square kilometres and the World Bank’s land-area value of 22810 are both larger than New Jersey’s and Massachusetts’s land areas and smaller than New Hampshire’s.
• Total with total: the World Bank’s surface-area value, 22966 or 22970 depending on the year, is larger than New Jersey’s total area in square kilometres and smaller than New Hampshire’s. Massachusetts, whose total includes the water area in the table, is larger than Belize on this measure.
• The 8,867 square miles: neither SIB nor the Tourism Board says whether it is land or total area. Read either way it sits above New Jersey and below New Hampshire on the same measure.

The Census Bureau’s footnote says its water figures include only perennial water, and that intermittent water, glacier and marsh or swamp are counted as land.

In the same World Bank series, Jamaica’s 2024 values are 10830 for land area and 10991 for surface area. Belize’s land and surface areas are each more than twice Jamaica’s (our comparison).

The six districts

SIB’s census report describes the same districts in shares of land area rather than square miles. It says Orange Walk, Belize District, Cayo and Toledo each account for “either just above or just below one-fifth of the land area”, that Belize and Cayo Districts together account for approximately 42% of the land and 53% of the population, and that Stann Creek and Corozal are the two smallest, at 9.5% and 8.1% of the national land area. The same report says population density rose from 14 persons per square kilometre to 17.3 persons per square kilometre between the 2010 and 2022 censuses. Table 1.7 of the Abstract prints a national density of 47 for 2025 beside its square-mile areas. The people behind those densities are counted on our Belize population page.

Why there is no CIA World Factbook figure

The CIA’s story dated February 4, 2026 says: “One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset.” This page therefore cites no Factbook figure.

What the publishers don’t publish

On the pages and files we read on 14 November 2026: SIB’s Table 1.7 has no square-kilometre column, and the land-area passage of its census report gives no square-mile figure. CARICOM’s profile and the Commonwealth page label their figures Area without saying land or total, and CARICOM writes miles without square. The Tourism Board’s 266 square miles of islands is the only island figure we found; no other publisher above breaks its total into mainland and islands. CARICOM and the Commonwealth also place Belize in their memberships, which are set out on our Central America or the Caribbean page.

How we researched this

On 14 November 2026 we read the land-area passage (PDF page 26) of SIB’s 2022 Key Findings Report and Table 1.7 (PDF page 18) of SIB’s Abstract of Statistics 2025. We requested the World Bank’s land-area and surface-area series for Belize and Jamaica from its public data API and copied the values as the API returns them, without commas. We read the US Census Bureau’s state-area table and the country pages of CARICOM, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Belize Tourism Board, and the CIA’s February 2026 story on the Factbook. The state and Jamaica comparisons are ours, made only between figures that measure the same thing, and checked at every Belize value in the first table.

Sources

• Statistical Institute of Belize, Key Findings Report, 2022 Population and Housing Census (PDF): 22,964 square kilometres of land, the district shares of land and population, density of 14 and 17.3 persons per square kilometre.
• Statistical Institute of Belize, Abstract of Statistics 2025 (PDF): Table 1.7, district areas in square miles, the 8,867 total and the 2025 density.
• World Bank Open Data API, land area and surface area, Belize and Jamaica: the 2015 to 2024 values for both countries.
• US Census Bureau, State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates: New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire areas, the water footnote and the December 16, 2021 revision date.
• Belize Tourism Board, Belize Fast Facts (PDF): 8,867 square miles including 266 square miles of islands.
• CARICOM, Belize country profile: 22,966 km2; 8,867 miles.
• Commonwealth Secretariat, Belize: 22,965 square kilometres.
• CIA, Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell: the February 4, 2026 notice that the Factbook has sunset.

Last verified: 2026-11-14

Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.