How big it really is
9,371,346 km²True area · 3,618,294 square miles
5 / 242By area
1.56×As Mercator draws it
3.2 timesFits into Africa
1,397,715,000People
149People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of China is at about 37° 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 1.56× 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:
- Antarctica12,256,560 km²
- Canada9,872,176 km²
- United States9,439,529 km²
- China9,371,346 km²
- Brazil8,499,494 km²
- Australia7,706,129 km²
- India3,155,855 km²