How big it really is
737,458 km²True area · 284,734 square miles
40 / 242By area
1.47×As Mercator draws it
41 timesFits into Africa
18,952,038People
25.7People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Chile is at about 34° 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 1.47× 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:
- Mozambique790,688 km²
- Turkey779,831 km²
- Zambia755,605 km²
- Chile737,458 km²
- Myanmar662,773 km²
- Afghanistan642,052 km²
- France635,054 km²