How big it really is
911,566 km²True area · 351,957 square miles
34 / 242By area
1.03×As Mercator draws it
33 timesFits into Africa
200,963,599People
220People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Nigeria is at about 10° 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 1.03× 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: