How big it really is
1,090,287 km²True area · 420,962 square miles
29 / 242By area
1.09×As Mercator draws it
28 timesFits into Africa
11,513,100People
10.6People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Bolivia is at about 17° S. 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 1.09× 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: