How big it really is
122,496 km²True area · 47,296 square miles
101 / 242By area
1.71×As Mercator draws it
248 timesFits into Africa
25,666,161People
210People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of North Korea is at about 40° 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 1.71× 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: