How big it really is
16,879,912 km²True area · 6,517,366 square miles
1 / 242By area
5.92×As Mercator draws it
1.8 timesFits into Africa
144,373,535People
8.6People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Russia is at about 66° 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 5.92× 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:
- Russia16,879,912 km²
- Antarctica12,256,560 km²
- Canada9,872,176 km²
- United States9,439,529 km²