How big it really is
506,171 km²True area · 195,434 square miles
52 / 242By area
1.72×As Mercator draws it
60 timesFits into Africa
47,076,781People
93.0People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Spain 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 1.72× 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: