How big it really is
442,979 km²True area · 171,035 square miles
59 / 242By area
4.67×As Mercator draws it
69 timesFits into Africa
10,285,453People
23.2People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Sweden is at about 62° 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 4.67× 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:
- Papua New Guinea464,296 km²
- Yemen454,142 km²
- Uzbekistan447,373 km²
- Sweden442,979 km²
- Iraq437,457 km²
- Paraguay400,911 km²
- Zimbabwe390,189 km²