Which is larger?
Europe has a mapped area of 22,840,240 km², compared with 17,651,497 km² for South America. That makes Europe about 1.29× larger. Because both values come from the same map geometry and spherical calculation, the ratio is internally consistent.
Two useful definitions, one consistent scale
This comparison uses a political-region definition for Europe and the twelve UN member states of South America. Both outlines are assembled from the same Natural Earth dataset and measured with the same spherical-area method.
Europe follows UN M49 membership and includes Russia's complete transcontinental geometry. South America excludes dependencies. These stated rules make the comparison reproducible, but the outlines should not be mistaken for survey-grade physical-continent boundaries.
Why this page compares area only
Country population values and a multi-country regional aggregate should not be combined without a shared reference year and aggregation policy. This comparison therefore stays focused on the consistently mapped geographic footprint.
This comparison is a geographic visualization, not a statement about territorial claims. Read the methodology and data sources before reusing the figures.