How big it really is
2,334,657 km²True area · 901,415 square miles
11 / 242By area
1.00×As Mercator draws it
13 timesFits into Africa
86,790,567People
37.2People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of DR Congo is at about 3° 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 1.00× 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: