How big it really is
51,514 km²True area · 19,890 square miles
130 / 242By area
1.03×As Mercator draws it
590 timesFits into Africa
5,047,561People
98.0People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Costa Rica is at about 10° 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 1.03× 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:
- Togo57,140 km²
- Croatia54,419 km²
- Bosnia and Herzegovina51,685 km²
- Costa Rica51,514 km²
- Dominican Republic48,590 km²
- Slovakia48,339 km²
- Estonia45,456 km²