How big it really is
97,155 km²True area · 37,512 square miles
109 / 242By area
1.55×As Mercator draws it
313 timesFits into Africa
51,709,098People
532People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of South Korea is at about 36° 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 1.55× 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: