How big it really is
1,622,853 km²True area · 626,587 square miles
19 / 242By area
1.41×As Mercator draws it
19 timesFits into Africa
82,913,906People
51.1People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Iran is at about 33° 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 1.41× 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: