How big it really is
300,291 km²True area · 115,943 square miles
73 / 242By area
1.90×As Mercator draws it
101 timesFits into Africa
60,297,396People
201People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Italy is at about 43° 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 1.90× 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:
- Côte d'Ivoire322,300 km²
- Poland312,556 km²
- Oman312,075 km²
- Italy300,291 km²
- Philippines290,309 km²
- Burkina Faso273,688 km²
- New Zealand266,865 km²