How big it really is
45,456 km²True area · 17,551 square miles
133 / 242By area
3.70×As Mercator draws it
668 timesFits into Africa
1,326,590People
29.2People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Estonia is at about 59° 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 3.70× 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:
- Costa Rica51,514 km²
- Dominican Republic48,590 km²
- Slovakia48,339 km²
- Estonia45,456 km²
- Denmark42,418 km²
- Switzerland41,208 km²
- Bhutan39,877 km²