How big it really is
68,699 km²True area · 26,525 square miles
123 / 242By area
2.78×As Mercator draws it
442 timesFits into Africa
4,941,444People
71.9People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Ireland is at about 53° 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 2.78× 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:
- Sierra Leone71,877 km²
- United Arab Emirates71,280 km²
- Georgia69,306 km²
- Ireland68,699 km²
- Sri Lanka66,044 km²
- Lithuania64,520 km²
- Latvia64,262 km²