How big it really is
30,632 km²True area · 11,827 square miles
141 / 242By area
2.49×As Mercator draws it
991 timesFits into Africa
11,484,055People
375People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Belgium is at about 51° 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 2.49× 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: