How big it really is
116,583 km²True area · 45,013 square miles
103 / 242By area
1.03×As Mercator draws it
261 timesFits into Africa
11,801,151People
101People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Benin is at about 10° 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 1.03× 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: