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Everything Measured in Saarland: Germany's Favorite Unit of Area

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saarland area germany absurd

Germany’s Most Beloved Unofficial Unit

If you have ever read a German news article about deforestation, wildfires, or large-scale construction projects, you have almost certainly encountered a peculiar unit of measurement: the Saarland. Not square kilometers, not hectares, not football fields. The Saarland.

“An area the size of three Saarlands was destroyed by wildfires in Australia.” “The new solar park covers half a Saarland.” Headlines like these are so common in German media that the Saarland has effectively become an unofficial unit of area, and the people of Saarland have learned to live with it.

What Exactly Is a Saarland?

The Saarland is Germany’s smallest federal state by area (excluding the city-states of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen). It covers approximately 2,570 square kilometers and is located in the southwest of Germany, bordering France and Luxembourg.

To put that into perspective:

  • 1 Saarland = 2,570 km²
  • 1 Saarland = roughly 992 square miles
  • 1 Saarland = about 257,000 hectares
  • 1 Saarland = approximately 360,000 football fields

With a population of just under one million people, it is also one of the least populated German states. But its real fame comes not from its politics or its economy but from its role as a measuring stick for everything large.

Why the Saarland?

The tradition likely emerged because the Saarland hits a sweet spot in terms of size. It is small enough that most people can intuitively grasp it, yet large enough to be useful for describing substantial areas. Saying “an area of 7,710 km²” does not create a mental image, but “three Saarlands” immediately communicates scale.

There are also a few cultural factors at play:

  • It is a real, familiar place. Every German knows where the Saarland is.
  • The name is short and catchy. It rolls off the tongue better than “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.”
  • The number is round-ish. 2,570 km² is easy enough to work with mentally.
  • It has become self-reinforcing. The more journalists use it, the more readers expect it.

The phenomenon is so well established that even serious publications like Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, and Tagesschau use it without irony.

Real Headlines and Comparisons

Here are some real and realistic examples of how the Saarland is used in German media:

  • “Every year, an area twice the size of the Saarland is deforested in the Amazon rainforest.”
  • “The oil spill covers an area roughly equivalent to the Saarland.”
  • “Germany’s total solar panel surface area has now reached half a Saarland.”
  • “The Sahara Desert is approximately 3,500 Saarlands in size.”

And some fun comparisons to put things into Saarland perspective:

  • Germany = ~139 Saarlands
  • France = ~253 Saarlands
  • The Moon’s surface = ~14,750 Saarlands
  • Lake Constance (Bodensee) = ~0.2 Saarlands
  • Manhattan = ~0.023 Saarlands

How Saarländer Feel About It

The people of the Saarland have developed a healthy sense of humor about being used as a unit of measurement. It has become a source of regional identity and mild pride. After all, no other German state gets mentioned this frequently in national media.

There are tongue-in-cheek campaigns and social media accounts dedicated to tracking Saarland comparisons. Some locals joke that their state’s greatest export is not steel or cars but its area measurement.

Others point out the absurdity: the Saarland has a rich cultural heritage, a unique Franco-German identity, excellent cuisine (Schwenker, anyone?), and a complex political history. Reducing it to a unit of area is reductive but also, they will admit, pretty funny.

The International Perspective

Other countries have similar informal units of area, though none are quite as institutionalized as the Saarland:

  • United States: Rhode Island or the state of Texas
  • United Kingdom: Wales (“an area the size of Wales”)
  • Australia: Tasmania
  • Belgium: Belgium itself (used across Europe)

Wales, in particular, serves a nearly identical function in British media. At 20,779 km², it is roughly 8 Saarlands.

Try the Converter

Want to know how many Saarlands your city, country, or favorite national park covers? Our Area in Saarland converter lets you convert any area into Saarlands instantly. It is the most important unit conversion you did not know you needed.

Fun Fact: If you stacked Saarlands to cover the entire surface of the Earth, you would need about 198,444 of them. The Earth is, quite literally, a lot of Saarlands.