How big it really is
2,322,776 km²True area · 896,828 square miles
12 / 242By area
1.28×As Mercator draws it
13 timesFits into Africa
43,053,054People
18.5People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Algeria is at about 28° N. Mercator stretches each place by the same amount across and up, more the further it is from the equator, so here every area comes out 1.28× its true size.
At the equator nothing is stretched. At 60° north or south, everything is drawn at four times its true area. The poles never fit on the map at all.
Countries about this size
The countries just bigger and just smaller, each at its true area:
- Argentina2,782,729 km²
- Kazakhstan2,712,816 km²
- DR Congo2,334,657 km²
- Algeria2,322,776 km²
- Greenland2,154,775 km²
- Mexico1,962,299 km²
- Saudi Arabia1,925,868 km²