How big it really is
312,556 km²True area · 120,678 square miles
71 / 242By area
2.65×As Mercator draws it
97 timesFits into Africa
37,970,874People
121People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Poland is at about 52° 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 2.65× 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:
- Vietnam328,943 km²
- Malaysia327,649 km²
- Côte d'Ivoire322,300 km²
- Poland312,556 km²
- Oman312,075 km²
- Italy300,291 km²
- Philippines290,309 km²