How big it really is
21,704 km²True area · 8,380 square miles
153 / 242By area
1.04×As Mercator draws it
1,399 timesFits into Africa
973,560People
44.9People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Djibouti 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 1.04× 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:
- North Macedonia25,364 km²
- Belize22,781 km²
- Israel22,051 km²
- Djibouti21,704 km²
- El Salvador20,391 km²
- Slovenia20,195 km²
- New Caledonia18,667 km²