How big it really is
228,949 km²True area · 88,398 square miles
84 / 242By area
1.11×As Mercator draws it
133 timesFits into Africa
7,169,455People
31.3People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Laos is at about 18° 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 1.11× 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:
- United Kingdom239,616 km²
- Ghana239,569 km²
- Romania235,772 km²
- Laos228,949 km²
- Guyana211,950 km²
- Belarus206,695 km²
- Kyrgyzstan198,653 km²