How big it really is
185,974 km²True area · 71,805 square miles
89 / 242By area
1.49×As Mercator draws it
163 timesFits into Africa
17,070,135People
91.8People per km²
How Mercator draws it
The middle of Syria is at about 35° 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 1.49× 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:
- Belarus206,695 km²
- Kyrgyzstan198,653 km²
- Senegal197,331 km²
- Syria185,974 km²
- Cambodia181,365 km²
- Uruguay177,567 km²
- Somaliland168,495 km²