How big it really is
17,330 km²True area · 6,691 square miles
158 / 242By area
1.32×As Mercator draws it
1,752 timesFits into Africa
4,207,083People
243People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Kuwait is at about 29° 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 1.32× 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:
- Slovenia20,195 km²
- New Caledonia18,667 km²
- Fiji18,407 km²
- Kuwait17,330 km²
- Eswatini16,992 km²
- Timor-Leste15,021 km²
- Montenegro13,667 km²