How big it really is
1,925,868 km²True area · 743,581 square miles
15 / 242By area
1.20×As Mercator draws it
16 timesFits into Africa
34,268,528People
17.8People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Saudi Arabia is at about 24° 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 1.20× 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: