How big it really is
1,271,025 km²True area · 490,745 square miles
22 / 242By area
1.07×As Mercator draws it
24 timesFits into Africa
15,946,876People
12.5People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Chad is at about 15° 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 1.07× 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: