Cairo
3,085 km²
Sydney
12,368 km²
Egypt
Australia
Area Comparison
Cairo is 4.0x smaller than Sydney
Population Comparison
Cairo has 1.9x more people than Sydney
In terms of area, Sydney is 4.0x the size of Cairo. Sydney spans 12,368 km² (4,775 mi²) while Cairo covers 3,085 km² (1,191 mi²) — a difference of 9,283 km². You could fit Cairo inside Sydney approximately 4 times.
To put Cairo's size in perspective, its area of 3,085 km² is about 1.2x the size of Luxembourg. Meanwhile, Sydney at 12,368 km² is about 2.0x the size of Shanghai.
Picture Cairo another way: its area is large enough to fit about 432,000 American football fields, 52 times the area of Manhattan, or 29 times the area of Paris. Sydney works out to about 1,700,000 American football fields, 120 times the area of Paris, or 100 times the area of San Francisco.
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate. It is home to more than 9.8 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22 million people. Areas of what would become Cairo were inhabited from pre-dynastic and early-dynastic ancient Egypt c.
Known as "The City of a Thousand Minarets", Cairo covers 3,085 km² with a population of 10.1 million. The city was established in 969. Cairo is known for Pyramids of Giza, Great Sphinx, Egyptian Museum, among other attractions. The city's main transit system is the Cairo Metro.
Cairo is home to more than 9.8 million people and is part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa and the Arab world.
Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and is the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west, and about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the Hawkesbury River in the north and north-west, to the Royal National Park and Macarthur in the south and south-west.
Nicknamed "Sydneysiders", Sydney has an area of 12,368 km² and is home to 5.3 million people. It was established in 1788. Visitors come for Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, and much more. Getting around is easy with the Sydney Trains.
Sydney stretches roughly 80 km from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west.
Looking beyond city limits, the Sydney metropolitan area covers 12,368 km², which is 1.9x larger than greater Cairo at 6,588 km². The Cairo metro area is also more populous, with 21.3 million people compared to 5.3 million.
Cairo has a population density of 3,274 people per km² — a moderately dense city. Sydney, with 429 people per km², is a low-density, sprawling urban area. Cairo is dramatically more crowded, with 7.6x the population density.
This comparison spans continents — Cairo in Africa versus Sydney in Oceania. Despite the geographic distance, comparing their sizes reveals surprising insights about how cities grow worldwide.
Cairo has a hot desert climate while Sydney experiences humid subtropical conditions. When it's noon in Sydney, it's 4:00 AM in Cairo — a 8-hour time difference.
Size Ratio
Cairo fits inside Sydney ~4 times
Density Gap
Cairo is 7.6x more densely populated
Time Difference
8 hours apart
History
Cairo is ~819 years older
Cairo covers 3,085 km². Cities with a similar urban footprint include Hanoi (3,359 km²), Karachi (3,527 km²), Lima (2,672 km²), Moscow (2,511 km²), or Cape Town (2,455 km²).
Sydney covers 12,368 km². Cities with a similar urban footprint include Chengdu (14,378 km²), Xi'an (10,097 km²), Melbourne (9,993 km²), Brisbane (15,826 km²), or Beijing (16,411 km²).
The straight-line distance from Cairo to Sydney is 14,417 km (8,958 miles), with an estimated flight time of ~17h 28m.
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