EqualGlobeOpen the map

Antarctica · 2nd largest of 242

Antarctica at its true size

Mercator can’t draw it at all: the pole is infinitely far away on that map, so web maps cut it off at 85° south.

See it on the mapLay it over other countries
True size

How big it really is

12,256,560 km²True area · 4,732,281 square miles
2 / 242By area
2.5 timesFits into Africa
4,490People
0.00People per km²

How Mercator draws it

Antarctica is the extreme case: a Mercator map would need to be infinitely tall to reach the South Pole, so the edge of the map runs across it and what’s left is stretched into a white band along the bottom.

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:

All countries by true size

The world at its true size.

Fold it into a globe, lay countries side by side, then fly out to the planets. Free, with no account and no ads.

Open the mapSee the solar system