How big it really is
273,688 km²True area · 105,671 square miles
75 / 242By area
1.05×As Mercator draws it
111 timesFits into Africa
20,321,378People
74.3People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Burkina Faso is at about 12° 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 1.05× 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:
- Oman312,075 km²
- Italy300,291 km²
- Philippines290,309 km²
- Burkina Faso273,688 km²
- New Zealand266,865 km²
- Gabon260,666 km²
- Ecuador255,671 km²