How big it really is
39,877 km²True area · 15,397 square miles
136 / 242By area
1.27×As Mercator draws it
762 timesFits into Africa
763,092People
19.1People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Bhutan is at about 27° 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 1.27× 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:
- Estonia45,456 km²
- Denmark42,418 km²
- Switzerland41,208 km²
- Bhutan39,877 km²
- Netherlands37,134 km²
- Taiwan35,999 km²
- Moldova33,117 km²